Desmodz'um.] Leguminosa. 53 



An erect much-branched under-shrub, branches terete or 

 nearly so, densely clothed with short spreading yellow or 

 orange hair; 1. 3-foliolate, rachis \-\\ in., pilose, stip. quickly 

 caducous, lflts. 1-2 in., obovate, rounded, truncate or retuse at 

 apex, strongly mucronate, glabrous above, densely silky and 

 silvery beneath; fl. large on erect hairy ped. longer than cal., 

 in rather dense terminal and axillary racemes, bracts large, 

 ovate, acuminate, very silky, soon falling; cal. puberulous, 

 segm. lanceolate, acute, ciliate ; pod i-ijin., linear, falcately 

 curved, not at all indented on dorsal and only slightly so on 

 ventral margin, joints 5-8, longer than broad, slightly 

 pubescent. 



Moist region up to 4000 ft.; common. Fl. Jan.-April; bright purple. 



Also in S. India. 



The young spikes are completely covered by the large overlapping 

 bracts. Varies very much in amount of hairiness, sometimes almost 

 glabrous. Occasionally cultivated for its pretty flowers. 



\D. capitatum, DC. Given for Ceylon in Fl. B. Ind. ii. 171, on 

 authority of the younger Burman. That author, however (Fl. Ind. 167), 

 does not give Ceylon as a locality, but merely quotes as a synonym a 

 name in Burm. Thes. 115. This from the citation of Hermann given is 

 only a variety of D. heterocarpitm. But the plant is likely enough to 

 occur here.] 



15. D. heterocarpum, DC. Prod. ii. 337 (1825). Et-undu- 

 piyali, S. 



Herm. Mus. 22. Burm. Thes. 117. Fl. Zeyl. n. 294. Hedysarum 



heterocarpum, L. Sp. PI. 747; Moon Cat. 54. D. polycarftum, DC, Thw. 

 Enum. 86. C. P. 1425. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 171. Burm. Thes. t. 53 f. 1. Wight, Ic. t. 406 {D.poly- 

 carpuni). 



A suberect perennial, somewhat woody and often rooting 

 below, branches very numerous, elongated, cylindrical, finely 

 downy with adpressed hair; 1. 3-foliolate, rachis i-ij in., stip. 

 large, narrow, filiform-acuminate, persistent, lflts. variable, 

 \-2\ in., shortly stalked, lanceolate or oval, obtuse or subacute, 

 glabrous above, more or less silky with adpressed hair beneath, 

 stipels filiform, conspicuous; fl. rather small, on slender erect 

 ped. longer than cal., crowded in short, dense, erect, terminal 

 and axillary racemes, bracts large, lanceolate, very acuminate, 

 ciliate; cal. nearly glabrous; pods erect, crowded, about 1 in., 

 straight, not indented on dorsal, moderately so on ventral 

 margin, joints 5-7, about as broad as long, with raised 

 reticulation, glabrous or hairy. 



Var. p, trichocaulon, J inker in Fl. B. Ind. I.e. C. P. 3512. 



Stem and branches with white spreading hair; racemes 

 more lax, bracts less acuminate; pods hairy. 



