PERKINS THE LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO RICO. 181 



wings obliquely oblong, Bomewhat longer than the obtuse keel; upper Btamen free; 

 ovary stipitate, multiovulate; style filiform; Btigma terminal, capitate; pod stalked, 

 oblong or widely Linear, compressed, withoul articulationfi or separating into l to 6 

 oblong, coriaceous, striate ones; seeds oblong or ovoid, somewhal flat. Shrubs, gla 

 brous; leaves imparipinnate; Leaflets :'> to many, spinesceni or pungent; stipule* 

 often pungent; flowers yellow, in the axils of the Leaves, solitary or in Blender few- 

 flowered racemes; bracts and bracteoles caducous. 



Professor Urban has written a monograph of the West Indian species of this genus, 

 which is nearly related to Ormocarpum. Ee distinguishes two sections. Tin- first, 

 Etacemosae I rb., is characterized by the numerous L5 to 25 Leaflets, truncate or 

 usually emarginate at the apex, and by the elongated inflorescence. To this section 

 belong two species: /'. obcordata DC. (San Domingo and /'. aculeata (Vahl) [Jrb. 

 (widely distributed in the Wesl Indies, first described by Vahl as Robinia aculeata . 

 The second, Fasciculatae Orb., has the leaflets fewer (3 to 7), Linear or obovate, acumi- 

 nate or founded at the apex; the inflorescence short with fasciculate flowers. This 

 Bection comprises also two Bpecies: /'. spinifolia [Jrb. (occurring in Haiti and San 

 Domingo) and /'. marginata Sau\ . i found as yet only in Cuba i. P. De Candolle, the 

 author of this genus, which is very characteristic of the Wesl Indian Leguminosae, 

 enumerates six species, of which Urban thus admits only lour. 



1. Pictetia aculeata i V"a hi I I rl>." 

 (Urban, 287.) 



Shrub 3 to 1 meters high or tree LO meters high; petioles 0.7 to 1.5 cm. long; leaflets 

 L5 i" 25, obovate-orbicular, rotundate, or obcordate, truncate or sometimes broadly 

 emarginate al the top, rounded or subtruncate at the base, 0.7 to 2 cm. Long and wide; 

 pedicels 25 down to L2 mm. Long; flowers yellow: calyx-tube :'> to -1 nun. long; standard 

 17 to 22 nun. long; pod broadly linear, more or Less incurved, 2.5 to 5 cm. long, 5 to 7 

 nun. wide, with l' to 6 articulations. 



Near Fajardo, in copses on the seashore toward the light-house; between Arroyo 

 and Guayama, alongroads; nearCoamo,in woods at San Ildefonso; near Penuelas in 

 woods; at Salinas de Cabo Etojo in forests on the seashore. — Haiti (Jacquin), Vieques 

 i De Candolle), Water [sland, St. Thomas, St. John (Eggers), St. Croix (Jacquin), 

 Trinidad I probably cultivated). 



Local name, tachuelo. St. Thomas, fustic. 



39. AESCHYNOMENE L. 



Aeschynomem L. Sp. PI. 2: 71:'). L753. 



Aedemoru Kotschy, Oestr. Bot. Zeitsch, 8: L16. 1858. 



Eerminiera Gi m. & Perr. Fl. Seneg. Tent. 201. pi. 51. L832. 



Calyx Lobes 5, nearly equal or united into two Lips, either entire or the upper one 

 2-lobed, the lower 3-lobed ; petals with short claws: standard orbicular; \\ ings obliquely 

 obovate-oblong, about equal to the standard; keel sometimes obovate, obtuse, nearly 

 straight. Bometimes narrow, acute or beaked, and much curved, the petal- iv^i- or con- 

 nect ed by means of little hair-, or connate: stamens usually all united in a sheath more 

 or less split on both the upper and the Lower edge, dividing the stamens into 2 bundles 

 of 5 each; ant her- reniform ; ovary stipitate, with 2 to many ovules; style incurved, the 

 Btigma terminal, sometimes subcapitate; pod stipitate, more or Less linear, straight, 

 annular, or falcate, smooth or muricate on the flat or slightly convex faces, separating 

 into 2 to many short, flat, usually indehiscent, reticulated articulations. Procumbenl 



" For illustrations Bee Cook and Collins, pis. acing p. 218 (as Pick Ha aristata >. 



