PERKINS -THE LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO BICO. 1 7 ( .» 



37. SESBANIA Scop. 



Sesbania S< op. I m rod. 308. 1777. 

 Agati A. dans. Fam. 2: 326. L763. 

 Darwinia li \\ . l'l. Ludov. L06. L817. 



< 'alyx broadly campanulate, truncate or with Dearly equal teeth or lobes; standard 

 ovate or orbicular, spreading or reflexed; wings oblong; keel incurved, obtuse, or acumi- 

 nate, will i a long daw: upper Btamen free, geniculate near the base, the others united 

 in a Bheath, angled uear the base; anthers unifi >rm or the 5 alternate somewhal longer; 

 ovary usually stipitate with uumerous Beeds; style with a small terminal capitate 

 stigma; pod long-linear, rarely oblong, compressed, terete or tetragonal, or L-winged, 

 2-valved or indehiscent, septate; seeds oblong or quadrate. Serbs or Bhrubs, rarely 

 arborescent; leaves abruptly pinnate; leaflets very numerous, entire; Btipules cadu- 

 cous; Mowers often Large, sometimes very Large, usually yellow, red, variegated, or 

 white, very rarely a dark purple, in short Loose axillary racemes; pedicels slender; 

 bracts and bracteoles setaceous. 



KKV To Till'. SPECIES. 



Flowers in short Eew-flowered racemes. 



Flowers large, white or carmine-red; petals s to 9 cm. tong; 



calyx 2 cm. deep; shrubortree. 1. S. grandiflora. 



Flowers small, a dull yellow. L.2 cm. Long; calyx 3 nun. Long; 



herb. 2. 8. sericea. 



Flowers in Lax, i to L2-flowered racemes. 



Flowers orange-colored or yellow: petals 2.25 cm. long: calyx 



6 mm. deep: Leaves slightly irritable. 3. S. occidentalis. 



Flowers brighl yellow: petals L.25 cm. Long; calyx •! nun. 

 deep; leaves no1 irritable. 1. S. aegyptiaca. 



1. Sesbania grandiflora (L. I Pers.a 



(Urban, 286.) 



A tall shrnl) or small tree of very few years' duration; Leaflets LO to30-jugate; flowers 

 white or carmine red: legume lim-ar. 30 or more cm. long, nearly 6.5 nun. wide, com- 

 I : seeds separated by Bpurious dissepiments. 



Cultivated and seemingly spontaneous near Bayamon; near < Jabo Rojo; at Mayaguez, 

 in a garden. — Cuba (Richard), .Jamaica (Grisebach), Haiti, St. Thomas Eggers . St. 

 Croix. St. John (Eggers), Gaudeloupe, Martinique, St. Vincent. Indigenous perhaps 

 in the Fast Indies and north Australia. Cultivated in the Tropics everywhere. 



S. grandiflora is mosl noticeable od account of it- Large and showy rod flowers, which 

 make it one of the mosl beautiful of the Papilionatae. In India the root, bark, flowers, 

 and the juice of the Leaves are used medicinally, while the natives eat the tender 

 Leaves, pods, and flowers as a vegetable and in curries. Cattle also eal the leaves and 

 tender shoots. The wood is white, soft, and not durable; is, however, used in Bengal 

 for posts of native houses and for lire wood, and as a support for the pepper vine. This 

 species yield- a gum resembling kino, of a garnet red color when fresh, but becoming 

 almost black by exposure to the air. 



Local name-, gallito, bdculo, areata de gallo. 



2. Sesbania sericea (Willd.) DC. 

 I Urban, 286. 



Plant 1 to o meters high; stem sufrrutescent, unarmed, cylindrical, pubescent; 

 Leaflets L2 to 20-jugate, oblong-linear, L.6 to 2.4 cm. long, l to 6 mm. broad, blunt or 



a Cook and t lollins, : igati grandi 



