OrmocarpumI\ LegU7)linOS(Z. 39 



Variable. The stem, petioles, and pedicels are often covered with 

 stalked glands. sE. pumila, L. is a form with acute leaflets, and more 

 hispid pods. Mr. Nevill sends from Puttalam a dwarf prostrate state, no 

 doubt from dry ground. 



The base of the stem is often swollen and pith-like, but to no such 

 extent as in sE. aspera. 



2. IE. asp era, L. Sp. PL 713 (1753). Ittaha-diya-siyambala, 

 5*. Attuneddi, T. 



Herm. Mus. 24, 41. Burm. Thes. 119. Fl. Zeyl. n. 298. Moon Cat. 

 54. Thw. Enum. 85. C. P. 15 14. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 152. Wight, Ic. t. 299. 



Perennial, stem very stout, often horizontal below and 

 floating, then erect 2-4 ft., glabrous, scarcely branched, usually 

 with a hollow pith-cavity, structure very light and spongy ; 1. 

 large, rachis 4-6 in., stout, glabrous, stip. over \ in., linear, 

 acuminate with a rounded membranous ciliate auricle at base, 

 lflts. as in the last but still more numerous ; fl. rather large, on 

 hispid ped., 2-6 in axillary corymbose panicles much shorter 

 than 1., bracts ovate, hispid ; cal. hispid, upper lip rounded, 

 lower 3-fid; pet. hairy outside; pod 3-4 in., over \ in wide, 

 nearly straight, woody, glabrous, 6- or 7-jointed, each joint 

 with a group of sharp asperities in the centre. 



Dry region, in tanks and paddy fields, common. Fl. December ; 

 yellow. 



Also in India, Malaya, and Trop. Africa. 



This is remarkable for the light, spongy character of the tissue of the 

 stem (which in large plants attains 3 in. in diameter), whence it is often 

 called the ' pith-plant ' by the English. It is the ' Shola ' of Bengal, and 

 from slices of the stem the well-known pith hats are made. A manufac- 

 ture of similar hats was started in 1885 in the jail at Hambantota, in the 

 neighbourhood of which place the plant is plentiful. 



14. ORXttOCARPUlft, Beauv. 



Shrubs, 1. imparipinnate; fl. few, in axillary racemes; cal.- 

 tube campanulate, upper segm. broader than lower ; keel-pet. 

 much incurved, not beaked ; stam. in 2 bundles of 5 each, 

 anth. uniform; style much curved upwards; pod long-stalked, 

 composed of few narrow, indehiscent, oval-oblong joints 

 readily disarticulating. — Sp. 6 ; 1 in Fl. B. Ind. 



O. sennoides, DC. Prod. ii. 315 (1825). 



Hedysarum sennoides, Willd., Moon Cat. 54. Thw. Enum. 85. C. P. 

 1438- 



FL B. Ind. ii. 152. Wight, Ic. t. 297. 



A small, rather straggling, branching shrub, with smooth 

 pale bark and slender twigs; 1. spreading, rachis \\-2\ in., 

 usually rough with minute prickles, stip. small, triangular, 



