428 D. Prain — Some additional Leguminosse. [No. 2, 



Ind. ii. 212. C ana valia tetragon a .Km^ MSS. (on specns.) ; Vigna tetra- 

 gona Kurz MSS. (on covers) in Herb. Calcutta. 



North Bengal ; Alipur Duars, Heawood ! Assam ; Masters ; G. Mann ! 



Stem wide -twining, densely clothed with persistent pale-brown pubescence. 

 Stipules lanceolate minute ; leaflets entire 4-6 in. long, '75-1 in. wide, bristly-hirsute 

 on both surfaces. Racemes 2-3 in. long, sometimes nearly sessile ; pedicels shorter 

 than the calyx, bracteoles minute lanceolate. Calyx '1 in., clothed with adpressed 

 hairs ; teeth deltoid, lowest lanceolate. Corolla blue (Heawood), 3-4 times the calyx. 

 Pod 2-2*5 in. long, '5 in. wide, firm, septate ; the angles distinctly winged as in 

 Psophocarpus. 



Very nearly related to D. dolichoides, but amply distinct by its narrow leaflets 

 and its Psophocarpus-like pods. Mr. Kurz apparently refrained from publishing this 

 species because, like Mr. Baker, he only knew the plant in fruit. Excellent flower- 

 ing specimens with full MSS. notes of the plant have recently been supplied by 

 Mr. Heawood from the Alipur Duars, so that a description can now be given. In 

 foliage and habit this greatly resembles Vigna ClarJcei, but in that species the hairs 

 on petioles and stems are reflexed, the flowers are yellow, and the pod is almost ex- 

 actly like that of Vigna pilosa. 



74 VIGNA Savi. 



2. Vigna lutea A. Gray. 



Add to localities of F. B. I. : — Ceylon : Thwaites ! Laccadives ; 

 Alcock ! 



It is pointed out in the Index Kewensis that the oldest name for this, as a Vigna, is 

 V. retusa Walp. Rep. i. 778, and the name V. lutea has accordingly been there changed 

 to V. retusa. There seems no object in making this reduction, firstly because V. 

 retusa Walp. is only partially equivalent to V. lutea A. Gray, since Walpers dis- 

 tinguished in the same work a V. anomala which is part of this species ; and secondly 

 because Gray's name is now much better known than Walper's one. The name V. 

 lutea has the further advantage of conserving the oldest specific epithet, since this is 

 Dolichos luteus of Swartz (Prodr. 105) and of De Candolle (Prodr. ii. 398). Dr. O. 

 Kuntze reduces this to the next species, and the two are certainly almost identical 

 as regards flowers, fruits and seeds ; their leaves are however very different, and the 

 differences appear to be constant. 



3. Vigna luteola Benth. 



Here again the Index Kewensis proposes that the oldest name for this as a Vigna y 

 (V. glabra Savi), should replace the better known name V. luteola. The objections 

 to the proposed change are parallel to those given under the preceding species. 

 V. glabra is only part of V. luteola, for Savi recognised another species V. villosa 

 that is also referable to V. luteola, while again Bentham's name conserves the oldest 

 specific epithet, since this is Dolichos luteolus Jacq. (Hort. Vindob. i. 39 t. 90). 



In the event of the adoption of Dr. Kuntze's view that V. lutea is after all only 

 a form of V. luteola, his name for the two (Vigna repens) will have to be considered, 

 since it is clear, as Kuntze says, that this is, perhaps both are, covered by the name 

 Dolichos repens Linn. But this is apparently not the Phaseolus repens Grah. which 

 Mr. Baker has renamed Vigna repens ; of the last mentioned plant the writer has not 

 seen specimens. 



