Sesbania] XLV. LEGUMIXOSJS 219 



minute or wanting. Calyx broad-campanulate, with short nearly equal teeth. 

 Pod long, linear, dehiscent, seeds numerous, separated by distinct transverse 

 bars. Species 20, in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of both hemispheres. 



1. S. aegyptiaca, Pers. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 114; Wight Ic. t. 32. Vera. 

 ■faint, Hind. ; Jayanti, Beng. : Sheicri, Mar. ; Te-tha-gyi, Burm. 



A small soft-wooded tree, 8-12 ft. high. Common petiole 4-6 in. long, 

 leaflets 10-20 pair, linear-oblong. Fl. h in. long, in lax 6-12 flowered racemes, 

 nearly as long as leaves. Petals yellow or orange and purple. Pod 6-8 in. 

 long, valves convex, torulose. 



Commonly planted and naturalized. In tin- Panjab as far as Peshawar, ascending to 

 1,000 ft. in tic X.-YS'. Himalaya. Cultivated throughout the tropics, wild in tropical 

 Africa. The wood makes o 1 charcoal fur gunpowder. 



2. S. grandiflora, Pers. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 115. Yern. Banna, Hind. : 

 Baka, Beng. ; Agashi, Mar. : Agati, Tarn. 



Attains 20-30 ft. Common petiole <>-!.) in. long, leaflets 10-30 pair, oblong, 

 glaucous. 1-1J in. long. Racemes short, fl. 2-4, 3 in. long, red or white. 

 Pod 10-12 in. long, \ in. broad, conijiressed, tetragonous. 



Cultivated in tropical India as a support for the Betid vine, for firewood and house- 

 posts; in the Ganges Doab chiefly for ornament. 



7. MUNDULEA, DC. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 110. 

 (12 species, of which 11 in Madagascar.) 



M. suberosa, Benth.— Syn. Tephrosia suber'osa, DC; Wight 111. t. 82 (79). 



A small tree, with pale corky bark, branchlets and underside of leaves 

 clothed with short silky hairs. Leaves imparipinnate, leaflets nearly oppo- 

 site, without stipels, lanceolate, <i-ll pair. Fl. large, 1 in. long, pink or white, 

 in slmrt terminal racemes, on pedicels 2-3 times the broadly campanulate 

 calyx, teeth unequal. Stamens monadelphous, the 10th free at the base, 

 alternate filaments dilated above. Pod linear 3-4 in. long, straight, rostrate, 

 thickened at the sutures, densely velvety, 2-8 seeded, irregularly contracted 

 between seeds. 



llills..f Western Peninsula, covered with blossoms May-Aug. Ceylon, Madagascar, 

 i ropico I Africa. 



s. MILLETTIA, Wight et Am. ; Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 104. 



Trees or climbers, leaves imparipinnate, single or fasciculate, on codes, which 

 are sometimes produced, leaflets opposite, often stipellate. Fl. white, pink, 



purple, rarely blue, in r ■* or panicles. Calyx truncate or short lj tool he. I. 



Standard in most species glabrous outside. Vexillary stamen wholly free, or 

 the middle of filament connate with the sheath, anthers uniform. Pod cori- 



ac is or woody, dehiscent, not winged as a rule. The root of several species 



and the iYuit of .'/. pachycarpa used to intoxicate fish. 50 60 species in the 

 tropical and subtropical regions of the old world, of which more than one half 

 in the Eastern Peninsula. None in Ceylon, The boundaries between Millettia 



and I h rr/s are uncertain. 



In tl ase of this genus, as well as in the cose of Dalhergia and Derris, I classify 



i he species as trees or shrubs) and climbers, because these biological features an 

 vim ion i for pr.net ical purposes. This distinction, however, is not in all i ase absolute. 

 In the deep shade ot the forest Milleltia auriculata, /'. <■/ -U tcanden* and other climbers 

 renin in stunted -In id. ~. i.i it when light i- given overhead, the internodes lengthen out : 

 the shoots seek the light, and begin to climb, attaching themselves to other shrubs 

 and tree-.. Again, in the open, exposed to the Bun, climbing species may remain 

 shrubbj for want ..i supports to lean upon. Hence the same species is sometimes de- 

 scribed bj botanists as an erect shrub or as a climber. Foresters in Indie "ill even- 

 tually be able to clear up this interesting subjeol by experiment and bj systematic 

 observat ions, 



