458 D. Prain — Some additional Leguminosre. [No. 2, 



1. Derris scandens Benth. 



Add to localities of F. B. I. : — Andamans ; very common. Nicobars ; 

 frequent. 



3. Derris robusta Benth. 



Add to localities of F. B. I. : — Chittagong; very common. Pegu; 

 Eurz I Brandis ! Distrib. South- West Yunnan (J. Anderson !) 



This is the well-known " Korai " of Assam and Silhet. Mr. Ellis gives the 

 name " Junguria " as used in Chittagong, and Mr. Kurz notes the Burmese name as 

 " Tepu-Jcan." 



4. Derris dalbergioides Bah. 



This tree is also very plentiful in Perak. In Malacca it has, according to Mr. 

 Derry, two local names, " Assam hutan " and Poko Pitei bilalaiig." 



5. Derris uliginosa Benth. 



As Cat. n. 5879 this was distributed by Dr. Wallich under the name Pongamia 

 uliginosa. Under one of the letters, however, (Cat. n. 5879 E.) he issued a very 

 different plant which in PI. Junghuhn. 252 (adnot.) Mr. Bentham treated as the 

 type of a distinct species (D. affinis Bth.) ; this plant, at a later date, Mr. Bentham 

 identified with D. trifoliata Lour, and reduced to D. uliginosa as a variety (Journ. 

 Linn. Soc. iv. Suppl. 108). The acceptance of the latter view should obviously have 

 involved the substitution of the name D. trifoliata Lour., which dates from 1790, for 

 the name Derris uliginosa Bth. which is based on Robinia uliginosa Boxb. (in Willd. 

 Sp. PL in. 1135) dating only from 1800. Fortunately, however, the rule was in this 

 case neglected. 



The statement that the pod of D. uliginosa may be 2-seeded is not borne out by 

 specimens reported to Calcutta. The writer has examined 137 fruiting herbarium 

 specimens as well as numberless living plants, and has never found a pod of D. 

 uliginosa with more than one seed. He has seen specimens from the Khasia Hills, 

 named D. uliginosa, that have 2-seeded pods, but these have always been specimens 

 of another species. The present species is a purely littoral one, met with, as 

 Roxburgh says, " on wet banks of rivers, nullas, etc." (he might have added 

 tidal rivers for it never occurs away from the influence of the tide), or as Wight and 

 Arnott remark in " swampy places near the sea." For Mr. Bentham's statement 

 that it extends " over the plains of Central India, to Khasiya " and for Mr. Baker's 

 " Eastern Himalaya " locality there is no foundation. 



That Derris trifoliata Lour, cannot possibly be any form of D. uliginosa is quite 

 clear from Loureiro's description ; D. trifoliata has 2-3-seeded pods and white flowers, 

 whereas D. uliginosa has only 1-seeded pods and has pink flowers. Besides, the 

 racemes of D. trifoliata are described as " long " which is precisely what those of D. 

 uliginosa are not. M. De Candolle, too, who saw Loureiro's specimens (see Prodr. ii. 

 415) did not identify them with Roxburgh's plant which he also had seen (see Prodr. 

 ii. 416). 



Whatever the relationship of D. trifoliata and D. uliginosa may be, it is absolutely 

 certain that Wall. Cat. 5879 E. does not belong to D. uliginosa ; its long panicles with 

 smaller flowers and its more numerous prominent lateral nerves that run to the 

 edge of the blade make it very different from D. uliginosa, the leaves of which have 

 faint lateral nerves, hardly stronger than the secondary venation, that loop at their 

 ends some way within the margin. 



