3897.] D. Prain — Some additional Leguminosee. 397 



ferum. Nor are there any specimens from the En stern Himalaya at Calcutta ; all tlie 

 Sikkim examples of a plant with flowers and fruits like those of D. serriferum 

 have the obtuse or subacute leaves characteristic of D. tilixfolium. 



As has been already explained under that species, the true D. oxyphyllurn is a 

 member of § Podocarpum and does not bear the faintest resemblance to D. serriferum. 



The vak. serriferum of the F. B. I. has no existence. It is made up of two 

 plants : — Wall. Cat. 5708 A. — which is, as it happens, exactly the same as Wall. Cat. 

 5708 B. ; in any case, even had the two differed, the specimen under the letter A. 

 must obviously have marked the type of Wallich's species : and Wall. Cat. 5710 

 issued by Dr. Wallich as D. polycarpum — which it in no way resembles. Indeed, n. 

 5710 is not distinguishable from D. tiliasfolium, as represented by his n. 5707. 



24. DESMODIUM TiLIJ]F0LIUM G. Don. 



This species bears to D. serriferum very nearly the relationship that D. sinuatum 

 bears to D. sequax ; that is to say its floral structure is identical and it is only to be 

 distinguished by the shape of its leaflets and the different degree of tomentum on its 

 leaves. To this species Mr. Baker reduces D. nutans Wall, which has thicker leaves 

 and very large lax panicles, and D. argenteum which has rugose almost coriaceous 

 leaves very densely villous beneath. As represented by Dr. Wallich's three sheets, 

 viz., 5707 (D. tilixfolium) ; 5713, (D. argenteum) and 5706, (D. nutans), it would be 

 perfectly easy to define three " species." But intermediates of all kiuds abound 

 and the writer has found it impossible to give satisfactory characters for separating 

 them as varieties. The fruits of all three are identical and, indeed, hardly differ 

 from those of D. serriferum, in which a monographer must, the writer believes, 

 necessarily ultimately merge all three. 



True D. tili&folium extends from the Kuram Valley, Aitchison ! and Hazara, 

 Stewart ! to Sikkim, King ! and Szechuen, Pratt ! But it is very rare in Sikkim, and 

 has never been reported from Nepal or from any portion of the Assam ranges. The 

 other two forms are more local ; D. argenteum extends only from Nepal westward 

 to Chamba, while D. nutans seems to be confined to Kamaon and Garhwal and to be 

 rare there. 



The F. B. I. reports one or other of the forms, without indicating which, from 

 Tavoy, but no one has hitherto sent specimens of the plant to Calcutta from any 

 part of Burma. In Upper Burma its place appears to be taken by the not dissimilar 

 D. karensium, which is at once recognised by its subulate calyx-teeth as long as 

 the tube. In Tenasserim it is replaced by another very distinct species, B. insigne, 

 which, with a calyx like that of D. karensium, is distinguished both from that 

 species and from D. tilisefolium by its persistent scarious bracts. 



246. Desmoditjm kaiiensium Kurz in Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xlv. pt. 2. 

 228 and 232 ; leaflets usually large acuminate softly velvety-pubescent 

 beneath, pedicels moderately long, bracts lanceolate deciduous, corolla 

 large, joints many, densely clothed with minute brown -pubescence and 

 with white spreading hairs intermixed. 



Burma; Pegu, Bookee Ridges, 4500 feet, Kurz n. 1676/0. ! Thoung- 

 yeen, Brandis ! Shan Hills ; at Madoe, Lwekaw, and near Fort Stedman, 

 King's Collectors ! 



A shrub 4-5 feet high, branches black, angular, glabrescent. Petiole 4> in.; 

 leaflets herbaceous 6 in. long, 3j in wide, green sparsely setulose-hirsule above. 



