217 



III. — Queensland Agric. Journ. iii. 1898, tt. 42, 43 (Mucuna 

 pruriens, var. utilis) ; Agric. News Barbados, 1909, p. 154, f. 20 

 (Lime Trees covered by Bengal Bean) ; Piper and Tracy. U.S. Dept. 

 Agric. Bureau PI. Industry, Bull. No. 179, 1910, t. 4, f. B. (pod and 



seeds), t. 7. 



Vernac. names. — Pois Mascate (Reunion, Nash, Gordemoy) ; Pois 

 noir de Bourbon (Voigt) ; Mauritius Bean; Bengal Bean; Black 

 Mauritius Bean. 



Grown for green manuring in Barbados, and in Hawaii (Piper and 

 Tracy, I.e. p. 19). Used as a fodder plant in Reunion (Nash, Mus. 

 Kew). Gives a good yield of nutritious forage ; cultivated as a 

 rotation crop on sugar estates in Mauritius (Kew Bull. 1898, p. 208). 



Grows freely and quickly from seed. 



In Montserrat the Bengal Bean has been grown with some success 

 over lime trees, to destroy scale insects. Four or five beans are planted 

 around each tree at the beginning of the rains. After about 9 or 

 10 months when the beans are ripe they are cut off near the ground ; 

 any portion of the vines which hang loose on the tree is also cut 

 away, but no attempt is made to remove the mass of vines with which 

 the trees have become overgrown. In a short time the lime trees make 

 strong and vigorous growth, and show a marked improvement in 

 general health. One drawback to the method is that the crop of limes 

 is small for the year the trees are under treatment (Agric. News, 

 Barbados, 1909, p. 154). 



Bef. — " The Black Mauritius Bean" (Mucuna pruriens, var. utilis), 



Benson, in Queensland Agric. Journ. iii. 1898, pp. 151-152. " The 



Use of the Bengal Bean in Lime Cultivations," in Agric. News, Bar- 

 bados, viii. 1909, p. 154. 



Mucuna Deeringiana, comb. nov. 



\8tizolobium deeringiaimm, Bort, U.S. Dept. Agric. Bureau PI. 

 Ind. Bull. No. 141, Pt. 3, 1909, p. 31]. 



An annual, herbaceous, climbing vine, sometimes GO ft. in 

 length when growing on supports, and even on the ground attaining 

 a length of from 6-18 ft., bearing long pendant racemes of 

 purple flowers which produce dark, velvety pods 2 or 2h in. 

 long. Stems rather slender, terete, sparsely pubescent, with white, 

 appressed hairs especially on the ridges. Petioles equalling or 

 exceeding the leaflets, pubescent like the stem, and continued for | to 

 1^ in. beyond the lateral leaflets ; stipules subulate, pubescent, 

 about 5 lin. long ; stipels similar but smaller ; petiolules about 

 2-3 lin. long, stout, very pubescent. Leaflets rhomboid-ovate, 

 the lateral ones oblique, membranaceous, acuminate-cuspidate 2-G 

 in. long, about half as broad, sparsely pubescent above, 

 especially on the veins, more densely pubescent beneath, the white 

 hairs closely appressed. Inflorescence a raceme or thyrsus 6-12 

 in. long, pendent, bearing 5-30 flowers, usually about 12 ; 

 rachis like the stem, but more pubescent ; flowers borne singly or in 

 twos or threes on short lateral branchlets. Bracts lanceolate-subulate, 

 very pubescent, early fugacious. Calyx pubescent within and with- 

 out with short, white, appressed hairs, 2 lipped, the upper lip broadly 

 triangular, the lower lip 3 cleft, the lobes triangular subulate, the 

 middle one longest ; stinging hairs absent. Corolla dark purple, 

 about 1^ in. long; standard less than half the length of the 

 keel, darker than the rest of the flower ; wings slightly shorter than 



