LEGUMINOSAE 237 



PAPILIONATAE 



20. AESCHYNOMENE Linnaeus 



Erect branched herbs, the leaves with very numerous, close, sensitive, 

 odd-pinnate, small, linear leaflets. Flowers small, in few-flowered racemes. 

 Calyx deeply 2-lipped, the lips somewhat toothed. Standard orbicular; 

 keel not beaked. Stamens in 2 bundles of 5 each. Pod linear, stalked, flat, 

 4- to 8-seeded, ultimately separating into 1-seeded points. (Greek "being 

 ashamed," from the sensitive leaflets.) 



Species about 30 in all tropical countries, 1, probably introduced, in 

 the Philippines. 



1. A INDICA L. 



An erect, branched, suffrutescent, annual herb 0.3 to 1.2 m high, gla- 

 brous, the branches green, cylindric. Leaf-rachis 3 to 5 cm long, the 

 leaflets small, linear or oblong, numerous, obtuse, 1-nerved, close, about 

 5 mm long; stipules lanceolate, 1 cm long, deciduous, produced below the 

 point of attachment. Racemes axillary, short, 1- to 4-flowered. Flowers 

 about 8 mm long, yellow and purplish. Pod linear-oblong, straight or 

 curved, 1 to 3 cm long, about 3 mm wide, composed of from 4 to 8 joints. 



In open wet gfrass lands, fl. all the year; throughout the Philippines, but 

 probably introduced. Tropics of the Old World, extending to Japan. 



21. ARACHIS Linnaeus 



Low, usually prostrate herbs with even-pinnate leaves, the leaflets 2 

 or 3 pairs, not stipellate. Flowers yellow, crowded in short, axillary 

 spikes, or pedicelled in the axils of the leaves. Calyx-tube slender, the 



4 upper wings oblong; keel incurred; beaked. Filaments united in a 

 closed tube, some anthers versatile, the alternating ones subbasifixed. Pod 

 oblong-cylindric, reticulate, indehiscent, torulose but not jointed, maturing 

 under the surface of the ground. (Ancient Greek name for some legumi- 

 nous plant.) 



Species 7, all tropical American, 1 now cultivated in all warm countries. 



*1. A. HYPOGABA L. Mani (Sp.); Peanut. 



An annual, spreading, hairy, branched herb, the stems 30 to 80 cm long. 

 Leaves 8 to 12 cm long, the base of the petiole clasping, the sheath 

 produced in 2 linear-lanceolate stipules. Leaflets - oblong to obovate, 2 to 



5 cm long. Flowers axillary, few, fascicled, yellow, about 8 mm long. 

 Pods ripening under ground, oblong, leathery, reticulate, 1 to 5 cm long, 

 containing from 1 to 8 seeds. (Fl. Filip. pi. 157.} 



Commonly cultivated, fl. Dec.-March. A native of tropical America now 

 widely distributed in cultivation in most tropical and subtropical countries. 



22. ZORNIA Gmelin 



Slender annual herbs, gland-dotted, the leaves compound, leaflets in 1 

 or 2, opposite pairs. Flowers small, in lax racemes, enclosed by lanceolate, 

 paired bracts. Calyx small, the upper teeth short, connate. Corolla ex- 

 serted. Stamens monadelphous, the anthers dimorphous. Ovary many- 



