L48 DISTRIBUTIONS PROM Nil NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



in the primeval forest of Mounl Mala Pasqua. St. Thomas, St. Croix l W< si . Intigua 

 ipe, Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia Bentham), St Vincent. 

 This plant is perhaps found on the South American continent, but M obovata i> 

 often mistaken for it . 

 J name, 



9. DESMANTHUS \\ did. 



l Mi di< . Theod 62. I i - 

 Desmanthus Wn i d. Sp. PI. 4: 1044. L806. 

 Desmanthea l><". Prod. 2: ill. 1825, as section. 



Flowers 5-merous, sessile, hermaphrodite or the lower ones 1 1 1 :i I « ■ or neuter; calyx 

 campanulate, shortly toothed; petals free or alightl) cohering; stamens LO or 5 

 exserted ;o> ary subsessilg, n ultiovulate ; style subulate, or sometimes in< rassate above; 

 stigma terminal, truncate, concave; legume linear, Btraighl or curved, compressed, con- 

 tinuous or slight!) septate, 2-valved, the valves adhering to thesut ural replum; seeds 

 compressed, subrhomboidal. Perennial herbs or undershrubs; leaves bipinnate, 

 leaflets small; stipules setaceous, persistent; flower-heads subglobose, often pauciflorous, 

 solitary, axillary. 



1. Desmanthus virgatus I I., i Willd. 



Urban, It 



(Jndershrub, decumbent or ascending, 2 to 3 meters high; pinnae 1 to 7-jugate, petiole 

 bearing an ovate-oblong gland between the lowesl pair: leaflets !() to 20-jugate, oblong- 

 linear, 5 i" s nun. long, 2 nun. wide; flower-heads with a few white flowers, 5 to 9 mm. 

 in diameter; legume straight or slightly falcate, 6 to 8 cm. long, 2 mm. wide, 20 to 



led. 



Near Guanica, on the Beashore at Cano Gordo and on dry grassy tracts around the 

 lagoon; near Mayaguez, at the fortress. Bermuda (Hemsley), Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, 

 Gaudeloupe, Martinique, Grenada. Tropical and subtropical America; common from 

 Buenos Ayres to the West Indies. Tropical Asia ; probably introduced into Easl India. 



Local name, desmanto ray ado. 



i'. Desmanthus virgatus strictus i Bertol. Griseb. 

 (Urban, 2680 



Shrub 0.5 to 2 meters high or small tree 3 to l meters high; flowers white. 



Near Fajardo, on roadside; near Aibonito, between Algarrobo and Cari bianco; near 

 Coamo, about Salinas; near Penuelas, on shady Blopes of Mount Llano; near Guanica, 

 on the margins of wood- hot worn La Boca and Barinas and about lagoons; near Salinas 

 de Cabo Rojo, in the coast districts, near Aguad ilia. Bahama, Cuba, Haiti. St. Thomas, 

 St. Croix, St. Bartholomew (Stockholm Eerbarium), Martinique, St. Vincent, Bar- 

 bados, Tobago. 



Variety si ridns in Porto Rico and also in the other islands differs obviously from the 

 typo and is easily distinguished from it. 



10. NEPTUNIA I. our. 



Neptunia Lot r. Fl. Cochinch. 2: 653. L790. 

 Hemidesma Rap. Sylva Tellur. L19. L8 



Flowers 5-merous, sessile, the upper hermaphrodite, the lower masculine or neuter; 

 calyx campanulate, Bhortly toothed; petals cohering to the middle or free; stamene 10, 

 rarely 5, exserted; ovary Bessile, multiovulate; style filiform, with a small, terminal, 

 concave Btigma; legume Bhortly and broadly oblong, oblique and almost at righl angles 

 with the short Btipes, the apex rounded bul withadistincl apiculum, compressed, thinly 



