76 Leguminosce. [DoHchos.. 



i. D. Lablab,* L. Sp. PL 725 (1753). Tatta - payaru, 



Minni, T. 



Herm. Mus. 60. Burm. Thes. 191. D. albus and D. purpureus, 

 Moon Cat. 53. Lablab vulgaris, Savi, Thw. Enum. 90. C. P. 1470. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 209. Wight, Ic. tt. 57, 203. Duthie, Crops N.W. Prov. 

 tt. 34, A. and B. 



A perennial twining herb (annual under cultivation), stems 

 stout, wide-spreading, glabrous; l.-rachis 1-2 in., slender, stip. 

 small, triangular, lflts. 1-1J in., broadly ovate- rhomboid,, 

 broader than long, very acute, glabrous on both sides; fl. 

 medium-sized, ped. shorter than cal., several together on short 

 tumid branches of the racemose axillary panicles, peduncle 

 long, stout, erect, curved, glabrous ; cal. glabrous, 3 lower segm. 

 lanceolate; standard with a horizontal thickened claw, keel, 

 with a straight beak turned up at right angles with the rest ;. 

 style very large, much laterally flattened, also bent up at right 

 angles, strongly bearded; pod I5-2 in., by \-\ wide, straight 

 along dorsal suture, much curved along ventral edge, suddenly 

 truncate, tipped with long deflexed beak, nearly glabrous ;. 

 seeds 2 or 3, oblong-oval, compressed, hilum long, linear. 



Low country ; probably wild in the dry region, but much cultivated 

 throughout the island. Fl. Jan., Feb.; reddish-purple or white. 



Throughout the Tropics of the Old World. 



The above description is from the apparently wild form, but the plant is 

 extremely variable under cultivation in size and shape of pod, and colour 

 of flowers and seed. The commonest form in the moist region {L. cultra- 

 tus, DC.) has purplish-pink fl., a curved, linear, rather inflated tapering pod 

 about 3 or 4 in. long, with crisped or warted sutures and white seeds. It 

 is the green pod that is used as a vegetable, not the ripe seed. I find no 

 recognised S. name. Hermann gives ' Hindamini,' and Moon ' Peti- 

 dambala,' and I have had ' Pal-avarai ' given me for the wild form, and 

 ' Dambala' for the cultivated varieties. 



2. D. uniflorus, Lam. Encycl. Meth. ii. 299 (1798), var. glaber. 

 Thw. ms. 



Thw. Enum. 90. C. P. 1475. 



Fl. B. Ind. ii. 210 (under D. biflorus). 



A perennial twining herb with a woody base, stems slender,, 

 with very long internodes, almost completely glabrous ; 1. small,, 

 distant, rachis f in., slender, stip. oval, acute, ribbed, persistent,, 

 lflts. f-i in., ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, acute, quite gla- 

 brous, thin ; fl. f in., on very short ped., solitary, axillary, bracts, 

 acuminate as long as cal.-tube; cal. widely campanulate, 

 slightly hairy, segm. all acuminate ; pod 2\ in. by \ in. wide, 

 much flattened, somewhat curved, with a long beak, glabrous ;, 



* The Egyptian name. 



