224 



XLV. LEGUMINOSiE 



[Desmodium 



Common in both peninsulas, often as 

 underwood in deciduous forests. Its 

 northern limit in the Sal forests of Oudh 

 and Gorakhpur. Fl. U.S. Also Sumatra, 

 Java, Borneo, Philippines. 



D. Leaves 1-foliolate. 



13. D. latifolium, DC. ; Wight 

 Ic. t. 270.— Syn. D. lasiocarpum, 

 DC. Vera. Eyopan, Burm. 



A large shrub, often with a short 

 woody stem, branchlets, petioles and 

 underside of leaves softly tomentose. 

 Leaves scabrous above, ovate, 3-5 

 in. long, slightly repand, secondary 

 nerves 5-8 pair, stipules from a broad 

 base cuspidate. Fl. bright purple, in 

 dense, villous, axillary racemes. Pods 

 ^— | in. long, clothed with hooked 

 hairs, joints 3-6. 



Sal forests of the subhimalayan tract, 

 from Dehra Dun eastward. Both penin- 

 sulas. Eng forest of Upper Burma. Fl. 

 July-Sept. Ceylon. From tropical Africa 

 to New Guinea. 



14. D. g-angeticum, DC. ; Wight Ic. t. 271, Subhimalayan tract from the Jumna 

 eastward, both peninsulas, Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines. A slender 

 under-shrub, leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous above, more or less pubescent 

 beneath, secondary nerves 8-10 pair, fl. white in long, slender, terminal and axillary 

 racemes. Pod falcate, J-f in. long. 



15. D. triquetrum, DC. Vern. Mokso lemma Burm., a small shrub. Dehra Dun, Oudh, 

 Sikkhn, Assam, Khasi hills, both Peninsulas and Ceylon, also Indian Archipelago ; 

 has 3- or 4-cornered branches, leaves oblong-lanceolate on a broadly-winged obovate 

 or oblanceolate petiole. Pods sessile, straight, 1-2 in. long, joints square, J in., more 

 or less strigose with adpressed hairs. 



Closely allied are the following species established by De Candolle, Prodr. ii. 326 : 

 D. auriculatum, DC. Silhet and coasts of Tenasserim and Andamans, attaining 10 ft. 

 and more. Pods glabrous, firmly cartilaginous. D. {datum, DC. Assam, Khasi hills, 

 Cachar, Chittagong, erect. Pods glabrous, thin. D. pseudotriquetrum, DC. Sub- 

 himalayan tract, Assam, Khasi and Naga hills, Bengal, a low trailing plant, branches 

 terete. Pod ciliate along the edges, glabrous on the face. Prain in Journ. As. Soc. 

 Beng. vol. 66 (1898), 390, classes these forms as sub-species of D. triquetrum. 



Fig. 96. — Desmodium pulchellum, Benth. i. 



10. OUGEINIA, Benth.; Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 160. 



O. dalbergioides, Benth. The only species. Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 36 ; Brand. 

 F. Fl. t. 23. — Syn. Dalbergia ougeinensis, Boxb. ; "Wight Ic. t. 391. Vera. 

 Sannan, Sdndan, Tinnus, Hind.; Panan, Oudh; Ruta, Kol; Turns, Mar. 



A middle-sized deciduous tree, with a short and often irregularly-shaped 

 trunk. Heartwood hard, tough, light brown to reddish brown. Leaves 

 pinnately trifoliolate, stipellate. Leaflets coriaceous, unequal, the terminal 

 largest, broad-oval, the two lateral opposite, oblique, edges undulate or slightly 

 crenate. Fl. white or pale pink, on long slender pedicels, in dense fascicles, or 

 on short racemes, forming loose heads on the old wood, 1-2 in. across. Stamens 

 diadelphous, anthers uniform. Pod linear-oblong, flat, veined, slightly con- 

 tracted between the seeds, scarcely dehiscent. Seeds 2-5, flat. 



Subhimalayan tract, from the Sutlej to Sikkim, ascending in the valleys to 4,000 ft. 

 Central India, south to the Godavery on the east, and North Kanara on the west side 

 of the peninsula. Often gregarious. Fl. from Feb. to May, generally before the old 

 leaves have fallen or the young foliage has come fully out. 



To this tribe also belong : .ffischynomene aspera, Linn. ; Wight Ic. t. 299, Bengal. 

 Bare in the Western Peninsula. Ceylon. A tall, erect water-plant, attaining 12 ft. 



