22 LegUminOSCZ. \Indigofera. 



Annual, stems numerous, prostrate, spreading, 6-12 in. 

 long, slender, 2-edged, branched, nearly glabrous ; 1. simple, 

 J-f in., very shortly stalked, obovate-rotund, very obtuse, api- 

 culate, with a few small scattered white hairs on both sides, 

 stip. linear, filiform ; fl. very small, on very short ped., 3-8 

 together in axillary racemes slightly exceeding 1., bracts aci- 

 cular ; cal.-segm. setaceous, bristly ; pod \ in., compressed, 

 semilunar, tipped with sharp style -base, the upper margin 

 slightly curved, the lower very much so, and set with several 

 rows of divaricate hooked spines, 1 -seeded. 



Dry region, in rocky and sandy places ; common. Fl. Dec-March ; 

 pink. 



Also in Peninsular India and in W. Trop. Africa. 



Linnaeus' name is often erroneously referred to Alyssicarftus nummu- 

 larifolius, DC. (as in Fl. B. Ind. ii. 158, following other writers). 



2. X. linifolia, Rets. Obs. Bot. iv. 29 (1786). 

 Thw. Enum. 83. C. P. 3514. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 92. Wight, Ic. t. 313. 



Annual, stems very numerous, 1-2 ft. long, prostrate or 

 ascending, much branched, slender, 2-edged, white with ad- 

 pressed silvery hair ; 1. numerous, simple, \-\ in., linear, acute 

 at both ends, strongly mucronate, silvery with adpressed hair 

 on both surfaces, stip. setaceous ; fl. very small, on short ped., 

 3-8 together in very numerous short axillary racemes ; cal. 

 very deeply cut, segm. setaceous ; pod very small, size of a 

 mustard-seed, globular, apiculate, white and glistening with 

 adpressed hair, 1 -seeded. 



Dry country ; rare. Kurundu-oya, on the banks of the Mahaweli 

 River; Kantalai. Fl. May, August; very pale pink. 



Throughout the E. Tropics, also in Afghanistan and Abyssinia. 



3. I. enneaphylla, L. Mant. ii. 571 (1771). Cheppunerinchi, T. 



Moon Cat. 54. Thw. Enum. 83. C. P. 2775. 

 Fl. B. Ind. ii. 94. "Wight, Ic. t. 403 (bad). 



Annual or perennial, root-stock often woody ; stems 

 numerous, trailing, prostrate but not rooting, much branched, 

 sparingly strigose with white adpressed hair ; 1. small, \-\ in., 

 imparipinnate, stip. rather large, lanceolate, acuminate, lflts. 

 7-9 (rarely 11), nearly sessile, alternate, minute, narrowly 

 obovate, cuneate at base, retuse and apiculate at apex, stiff; 

 fl. very small, nearly sessile, 10-20 crowded in a short close 

 spicate head, peduncle short, bracts lanceolate, acuminate, 

 scarious ; cal. set with long stiff white hairs, segm. very long, 

 setaceous ; pod very small, \ in., ovoid-oblong, with a sharp 

 apiculus, more or less clothed with white adpressed hair, 

 2-seeded with a partition between the seeds. 



