76 .LEGUMiNos^. llndigofera. 



3. INDIGOFERA, Linn. 



Calyx small, broadly and obliquely campanulate, with 5 teeth or lobes, the 

 lowest the longest. Standard ovate or orbicular. Keel erect, with long claws, 

 and a small protuberance or spur on each side, above the claw. Stamens 

 diadelphous, the sheath slender, and usually persistent after the fall of the 

 petals. Anthers tipped with a small gland or point. Ovary sessile or nearly 

 so, with several ovules. Pod usually slender, cylindrical or 4-angled, with 

 transverse cellular partitions between the seeds, rarely flattened, or when re- 

 duced to a single seed nearly globular. — Herbs, undershrubs, or slender shrubs, 

 more or less hoary or sprinkled with appressed hairs, fixed by their centre. 

 Leaves usually pinnate, with opposite or alternate leaflets and a terininal odd 

 one, sometimes reduced to 3 or 1, and in a few African species with 3 or 5 

 digitate leaflets. Stipules small ; stipeUse occur occasionally. Flowers usually 

 red or purple, in axillary spikes or racemes. 



A large genus, widely spread over tropical Asia and America, but still more abundant in 

 tropical and sontiiem Africa, with a few Australian species. 



Prostrate, decumbent, or ascending herbs. Pods straight, closely re- 

 flexed on the peduncle. 



Stem hirsute with spreading hairs 1. /. hirsuta. 



Stem glabrous, much flattened 2. J. endeeaphylla. 



Erect shrnbs or undershrubs. 



Pods reflected, much curved and crowded. Flowers small . . . 3. 7. Anil. 

 Pods straight, spreading. Flowers rather large, in loose racemes. 



Leaflets much veined, most of them very obtuse .... 4. /. venulosa. 



Leaflets slightly veined, most of them acute .... ..5.7. decora. 



1. I. hirsuta, Linn.; W. and Am. Prod. M. Penins. i. 204. A de- 

 cumbent or ascending branching annual, 1 to 2 feet high, remarkable in the 

 genus for the spreading hairs which clothe the branches, petioles, and inflo- 

 rescence. Leaves pinnate, with 3 to 5 pair of opposite leaflets and a terminal 

 one, all obovate or oblong, with stiff appressed hairs, the common petiole 2 to 

 3 in., the leaflets from i to 1 in. long. Eacemes dense, shortly stalked, from 

 1 to 4 in. long. Pods about | in. long, straight, quadrangular, reflexed on the 

 peduncle, very hirsute, with 5 to 7 seeds. — I. astragalina, DC. Prod. ii. 328, 



On the racecourse. Champion ; abundant near the sea, Wilford; also Wright and Hatice, 

 ■Widely dispersed over tropical Africa, Asia, and Australia. 



3. I. endecaphylla, Jacq. ; DC. Prod. ii. 338 ; Bot. Mag. t. 789. 

 Stock perennial, sometimes almost woody ; the branches prostrate or ascending, 

 somewhat hoary, and always more or less flattened, especially in the upper 

 part. Leaflets from 5 to 11, alternate, fi-om obovate to oblong, or even linear, 

 from 4 to 6, or even 8 lines long, obtuse, glabrous above, with appressed hau-s 

 underneath, the common petiole about 1 in. long. Flowers small, almost 

 sessile, in axiUary racemes about the length of the leaves. Calyx deeply 5- 

 cleft, with subulate teeth (or lobes). Pods about |- in. long, straight, obtusely 

 quadrangular, reflexed on the peduncle, nearly glabrous, usually with 8 to 10 

 seeds. — J. anceps, Vahl; DC. Prod. ii. 328. /. Kleinii, W. and Am. Prod. i. 

 204. I. Schimperiana, Hochst. PI. Schimp. Abyss. 



Hongkong, Wright. Occurs in various parts of tropical and southern Africa, and in the 

 Indian Peninsula, probably therefore introduced into Hongkong. ■ 



