18 



PLATE 287. 



Indtgopbba aerecta, Hochst. (Fl. Trop. Mrica, Vol. 2, p. 97). 

 Natural Order, LEGUMiNOSiE. 



An erect much branclied undershrub reaching to 6 feet or more in height, 

 with yellow-green flowers which are more or less tinged with pink ; strigillose in 

 all parts. Stems terete or slightly furroweH ; branches erect, terete. Leaves 

 alternate, stipulate, unequally pinnate ; common petioles with rhachis 2^ to 31 

 inches long, swollen at base. Stipules subulate, small. Leaflets in -5 to 8 opposite 

 pairs with a terminal one, oblong, cuneate at base, minutely papillose above, 

 strigillose beneath, 5 to 8 lines long ; petiolules 1 line long. Inflorescence 

 axillary, racemose, racemes reaching to Ij inch long, 6 to 30 flowered; pedicels 

 a little longer than the calyx. Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed, two upper teeth 

 deltoid, the lower three lanceolate, all minute, the whole calyx about ^ line long. 

 Corolla papilionaceous, externally strigillose, 2 lines long, vexillum ovate, tinged 

 with pink outside, alae oblong, red, carina hooded, spurred on each side, yellow- 

 green slightly tinged with pink. Style curved, stigma capitate. Legume de- 

 flexed, linear mucronate, ^ to 1 line long, 5 to 8 seeded. 



Habitat : Natal : Coast and midlands. Berea, 500 feet alt, March, Wood No. 

 8216 ; New Guelderland, Golenbrander. 



This is the plant known to the natives as um-Pegembetu, and used by them 

 for staining blue, and it is the same species from which indigo was manufactured 

 at Pinetown many years ago by Messrs. Van Prehn & Murray, Mr. Van Prehn 

 returned to Java taking with him seeds of the plant, and further supplies have 

 been sent to Java and perhaps to other places also since that time. It is quite 

 different to the plant described as Jndigofera arrecta, Benth in Vol. 2, p. 183, of 

 Flora Capensis, which plant will now have to take another name. We are in- 

 debted to Dr. Prain, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, who on his 

 last visit to England took considerable pains to identify this plant, which he did 

 from specimens sent from the Colonial Herbarium, in the course of his investiga- 

 tions he found that the names had been very much confused, and that the name 

 now given is undoubtedly the correct one. It is described in the Flora of Tropical 

 Africa, but some slight differences will be found between this description and the 

 one there given, especially as to the number of flowers in the raceme, and their 

 colour. It is, we understand, one of the best if not the best of the species for the 

 manufacture of indigo, and it appears to be found almost all over Africa. 



Fig. 1 , raceme ; 2, flower ; 8, calyx ; 4, vexillum ; 5, ala ; 6, carina ; 7, flower, 

 corolla removed ; all variously enlarged. 



