14 



PLATE 212. 



Dbsmodium hirtum, Guill. & Per. Fl. Seneg. Tent. 209^. 

 Natural Order, Legbminos^. 



A subherbaceous diffuse plant. Stems many from a half woody, sometimes 

 creeping nodose root, patently hirsute with longish white or rusty hairs, distantly 

 branched. Leaves alternate, pinnately 3-foliate, sometimes with a few simple ones 

 near base of the stem, petiole ^— f inch long, rounded beneath, flattened and very 

 narrowly winged above, swollen at base, hirsute ; lateral leaflets ovate to oblong, 

 f- 1 inch long, ^f inch wide; petiolules 1-2 lines long ; terminal one obovate, 

 1-1^ inch long, ^-1^ inch wide, petiolule 3-5 lines long ; all appressedly pilose 

 on both surfaces, mucronulate, strongly veined beneath. Stipules subulate from a 

 broad base, 4-5 lines long ; stipellge setaceous. Racemes axillary oi terminal, the 

 terminal ones often 1 foot or more long, distantly flowered ; pedicels 1-3 together, 

 filiform, short, lengthening in fruit to 6-7 lines long. Bracts one in each axil of 

 raceme, enclosing the young flowers, rotund or subrotund with a long acuminate 

 point, deeply concave, striate, soon deciduous, finely pilose. Calyx setose with 

 jointed hairs, bilabiate, upper lip bifid for ^ of its length, lower lip deeply 3-lol)ed, 

 lobes acuminate, ciliate, with long setose jointed hairs in upper portion. Vexillum 

 obcordate, reflexed, claw slightly recurved, 2-3 lines long and broad, pale purple 

 with 2 orange red spots above base, and 2 minute ridges below ; als oblong, a 

 little shorter than vexillum, deep purple on upper edge; carina a little longer than 

 alse, and adhering to alae for more than one half its length, dull white with laven- 

 der tip. Stamens diadelphous, anthers ovate. Ovary elongate, pilose, style 

 curved, stigma capitate. Legume 3-5-jointed, strongly compressed, clothed with 

 minute jointed glandular hairs, the joints 1-seeded, separating at maturity. Seeds 

 minute, subreniform, glabrous. 



Habitat : Natal. Coast and midlands. Near Durban, 50 feet alt.. Wood. 

 without locality, Oerrard ^ McKen 416 ; Inanda, 1,800 feet alt., Wood 9S ; near 

 Durban, February Wood 7732. 



Drawn and described from Wood's 7732. 



The genus Desmodium is a large one including from 120 to 130 sjiecies, 

 natives of tropical and sub-tropical countries. In South Africa we have about 6 

 species only, which are distinguished from other leguminous plants of Natal by 

 their short calyces and legumes which break up spontaneously into several or 

 many one seeded portions. The plant here desciibed has not been put to any 

 practical use, and the natives have no distinctive name for it, but it appears to be 

 a plant, which, on account of the numerous nodules found on the roots, might be 

 found to be useful to the farmer for increasing the fertility of the soil. 



Fig. 1, a flower ; 2, calyx opened ; 3, bract ; 4, vexillum ; 5, carina and alse, 

 front view; 6, same, back view; 7, stamens; 8, ovary, style and stigma; 9, 

 legume; 10, joint of legume opened ; 11, portion of root with nodules; all en- 

 la/rged. 



