PEBKINS THE LEGUMINOSAE OF PORTO RICO. 219 



1. Pachyrhizus erosus I I rb.° 

 l rban, 31 I 



Rool a tuber Like a turnip; stems perennial, firm, wide-twining, Bubglabrous; 

 stipules small, Linear <»r Lanceolate; petioles firm, 5 to L5 cm. Long; Leaflets roundish, 

 usually more or less rhomboidal, often sinuate-lobate, LO to l"> cm. each way, both 

 Bides glabrous or the Lower with thinly adpr< — 'I gray-silky hairs when young; 

 flowers in ample racemes LO to r> cm. Long, on firm peduncles often equaling them; 

 pedicels 4 to 6 nun. Long; calyx 6.5 to 8.5 mm. deep, Bilky, the teeth reaching about 

 halfway down; corolla blue, 2.5 cm. deep or more; pod l"> to 22.5 cm. Long, 17 to 

 ]!)..") niiii. wide, glabrescent, Bubcompressed, distinctly constricted vertically, 9 to 

 1 2-s< seded; seeds compr< «8< d-roundish. 



N<-nr Bayamon; Dear Las Piedras; near A -inula, in mountain woods at Rio Grande; 

 near Aguadilla on mountain slopes. -Cuba (Grisebach . Eaiti, St. Thomas, Guade- 

 loupe, Dominica (Grisebach), Martinique, St. Vincenl (Kew Bull. no. 81, p 

 Bequia. Native country no1 clearly known. 



This plant is not only widely distributed in the tropics of Asia and America, bul 

 is often cultivated on account of its tuberous root, which resembles a turnip, and is 

 eaten raw or cooked. 



Local name, habilla. 



2. Pachyrhizus tuberosus (Lain.) Spreng. 

 I 1'rl .an. 312.) 



Herb twining, 3 to 6 meters high; rool consisting of a number of simple cord-like 

 fibers, several feet in Length, stretching under the Burface of the ground, bearing in 

 their course a succession of i ubers; leaflets subentire or slightly sinuate in the young 

 leaves sometimes deeply lobed); raceme almost simple, the lower branches very 

 short, many-flowered; flowers white; pod 20 to 30 cm. Long, L.8 to 2 cm. broad, con- 

 stricted Let ween the seeds; Beeds red. 



Cultivated near Rincon in Hacienda La Palmira. Native country unknown. Mr. 

 Oliver says "I think this plant may well be a variety of P. angulatus Rich, originated 

 under cultivation, but so marked as to require a distinct name for cultural purposes, 

 and for the present the Bpecific name given by Lamarck may suitably be adopted." 



Cultivated for its large edible tubers. It can be planted at any season of the year. 

 and the roots are tit for digging in 1 or 5 month.-. The pods of this plant (the yam 

 bean), according to Dr. Trimen, are an admirable vegetable, superior to ordinary 

 French beans in the absence of a fibrous Btring about the sutures of the pod. The 

 *(>e<\* are poisonous. Macfadyen says in the Flora of Jamaica, •"The tubers may either 

 be boiled plain, in which state they are a very good substitute for yams and other 

 root- in common use, or they may be submitted to a process similar to arrowroot, and 

 a March obtained. This starch is pure white and is equal in every respect to arrow- 

 root." 



67. DOLICHOS L. 



Dolichos L. Sp. PI. 2: 725. L753. 



MacrotylomaWiQWS & Arn. Prod. El. Pen. Ind. Or. 1: 248. L834 



Dolichus B. MY. v. Comm. PI. Air. V.ustr. L40. L8 



Calyx campanulate, the 2 upper teeth united into one emir,- or emarginate one; 

 standard orbicular, the thickened base appendiculate with inflexed auricles; wings 

 falcate-obovate, adhering to the keel; keel much incurved, usually rostrate, but nol 



"Took and Collins, p. 208, as Pachyrrhizus angulatus. 



