PERKINS— THE LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO BICO. 187 



1. Desmodium barbatuin I. Benth. 

 I rban, 290. 



Suffrutescent, erect, or ascending, :'>(> to 60 cm. high; leaflets 3, elliptical-oblong, 

 »bovate, or elliptical-lanceolate, I i" L.5 cm. long, l i" 7 mm. wide, above glabrous 

 or subpilose, beneath appressed-villose; calyx 1. 1 mm. deep, al length nodding, very 

 l$ng brown-pilose, the teeth lanceolate-setaceous, the tube very short; corolla light 

 l»lii<' or purple, about as long as the calyx; legume I i<> L.5 cm. long, 2 mm. wide, 

 indehiscent, the upper suture straight, the lower somewhat indented, reflexed, 2 t<» 

 1-jointed. 



Near Bayamon, in sandy places; near Lares, in ravines at Espino; aear Cabo Elojo, 

 on hills toward Joyuda; Dear Mayaguez, on the slopes of Mount Mesa; aear Aguada, 

 in rocky districts at Elosario; near Manati, on plain- at Garrochales. Cuba Grise- 

 bach i, Jamaica, Eaiti, Martinique, St. Lucia. Tobago, Trinidad, [n tropical America, 

 a common plant, in pastures, and on the roadside. Also introduced into the Old 

 World. 



The short, many-flowered racemes ami the deep, densely plumose calyx make this 

 common plant of the Tropics easily recoginzed. 



Local name. ;<ir_<ih<tc<>u peluda. 



2. Desmodium triflorum I. DC. a 

 i Urban, 289. 



Stem widely creeping, copiously and diffusely branched, forming a dense mailed 

 cluster, the branches slender, glabrous or thinly clothed with tine spreading >ilky hair-: 

 stipules lanceolate, acuminate. 4.4mm. deep; leaflets 3, broadly obovate, terminal one 

 8.5 to 11 mm. lonu r and nearly as broad, lateral ones .-mailer, both sides glabrous or 

 Bubglabrous; flowers blue (Urban); calyx 4 mm. deep, silky, teeth reaching more 

 than halfway down: corolla reddish or white (Oliver), fragrant, about equaling the 

 calyx: pod 1.1 to 1.7 cm. long. -I mm. wide, the lower suture waved one-third of the 

 way down; articulations -1 to ii. the faces subglabrous. 



Near Naguabo in fields around Hacienda Oriente; near Cayey along roads toward 

 Cidra; nearCoamo, in the valley of El Tendal River on grassy slopes; aear Cabo Rojo 

 on hill- toward Joyuda; near Rincon in meadows at Barriodel Pueblo.— < !uba, Jamaica, 

 Cayman. Haiti. St. Thomas. St. Croix, St. John Eggers . Si. Bartholomew (Stock- 

 holm Herbarium!. St. Kitt.-. Antigua (Grisebach), Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Vin- 

 cent. Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad. Mexico to Brazil, tropical Africa. East Indie-. 



Desmodium triflorum i- a common weed of the Tropics. The fresh have- are used 

 medicinally. In India Roxburgh says that this is very common on pasture grounds 

 and helps to form the most beautiful turf: further, that cattle are very fend of it. 

 Mi'illei- recommend- it- cultivation in regions too hot for clover. Another author 

 says that in India ii springs up on all soils, supplying there the place of Trifolium and 

 Medicare. 



Local name, zarzabacoa >/< tresflo 



3. Desmodium adscendens i Sw . > DC. 

 Urban, 290. 



An iindershrub 1 to i.:; meters high, with ascending woody branches; leaflets •">. 

 obovate, L.8 to 2.5 cm. long, sometime- nearly a- broad a- deep. ih,. apex rounded, 

 Bubcoriaceous, upper surface glabrous, lower finely adpressed-silky; racemes often lo 



a For illustration see Cook and Collins. //'</. / .'. p. L89 a- MtibomUk Injlura). 



