44 
Sesbania pumctata * D.C., has been much misunderstood in herbaria, and has been 
considered to be widely distributed over tropical Africa and other countries. This is not, 
however, the case, and it appears to be confined to the banks of streams, in the Savannah 
country from Senegambia to Northern Nigeria, probably as far as Lake Chard or may 
be further. Parsons (No. 154) says it 1s a very common river shrub, 10 ft. high or so, 
overhanging and sometimes forming dense impenetrable hedges. 
The species may be at once recognized by its small branched inflorescence, mottled 
standard-petal with very long free-appendages and smooth (not aculeate) peduncles. 
4. Sebania aegyptiaca Poir. Encyc., vii, 128; Pers. Syn, ii, 316; D.C. Prodr., ii, 264 
(1825) ; Baker in Oliv. FI. Trop. Afr., 1, 134 (1871) ; Prain in EE As. Soc. , Bengal, 
Ixvi, 367 (1897). 
A tall shrub or small tree. Branches pilose or pubescent, rarely almost glabrous, 
usually ribbed. Leaves 3-5-13 cm. long, petiole 0-3-1 cm. long, pubescent or villous ; 
rachis flattened or ag! ed above, pilose, rarely glabrous ; leaflets 9-27-jugate ; subsessile, 
0 -6—9 -8 cm. long, 1-5-6 mm. anh oblong, truncate, rounded, or sometimes retuse at ae 
apex, apiculate, scarcely narrowed to the base, pubescent beneath, pubescent or glabrous 
above, not punctate with minute black dots, with the mid-rib distinct beneath; the 
terminal leaflets somewhat oblong-obovate. Stipules about 5 mm. long, ovate, acuminate, 
pubescent, usually deciduous, if persistent then coiled. Inflorescence an axillary raceme, 
2-10 em. long, 3-8-flowered, usually longer than, sometimes shorter than, the subtending 
leaf, the base “of the pedunc le de nsely or scantily pilose, otherwise meel glabrous. Bracts 
3-4 mm. long, ovate, acuminate, acute, pilose, deciduous ; bracteoles 1-5 mm. long, linear, 
pubescent without, deciduous. Pedicels 0-5-1-5 em. long, glabrous. Calyx-tube 3-5 mm. 
long, 5-7 mm. in diameter, glabrous, truncate, with five small teeth or lobes 1 mm. long, 
ovate, usually minutely ciliate. Vezilum 1-1-1-9 cm. long, 1:2-1 -$ cm. broad, obovate, 
suborbicular, or transversely oblong, rounded and usually retuse at the apex, with a short 
claw 2-3 mm. long and with two free appendages above the claw; alae 1 -3—-1-8 cm. long, 
3-6 mm. broad, oblong, rounded or retuse at the apex, with a curved linear claw 5-6 mm. 
long, and with a projecting tooth rut the base of the lamina forming a horse-shoe-shaped 
loop with the claw: carima 1-4-1-5 cm. long, 5-6 mm. broad, almost plano-convex in 
outline, with a linear claw 6-8 mm. ae and a projecting tooth from the lamina forming 
a horse-shoe-shaped, or distinct, loop with the claw. Staminal-sheath 0-8-1-1 em. long, 
2-3-5 mm. broad at the base, with evident or distinct veins; free portion of filaments 
arcuate ; anthers 0-75 mm. long, oblong; free stamen bent near the base. Ovary 1-1-3 em. 
long, sub-compressed, glabrous, with two longitudinal bands ; style 3-5 mm. long, arcuate ; 
stigma small, capitate. Fruit twisted, 6-14 cm. long, 3-4 mm. thick, subterete, long- 
acuminate, acute, glabrous, divided into compartments within. Seeds oblong, truncate 
at both ends, reddish-brown, 4 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, glabrous. 
TropicaL AFRICA: Senegambia: Perrottet, Sierra Leone, Vogel 24. Northern Nigeria : 
Kontagora, shrub or tree by streams, J. M. Dalziel 38; 50 nvles from Maifoni, Bornu, 
A. C. Parsons. Lake Chad and Bornu, Talbot 1242. Attah, branched shrub, Vogel 45. 
Congo: Burton; Stanley Pool, Hens 348. Angola Kiteve, Kunene River, Bawm 955. 
Eastern Sudan: Kordofau, Pfund 404; Kotschy 72, 223, 347, 539, White Nile, Brownell ; 
Lynes ; Schweinfurth 998 ; Muriel 107; Kassala, Schweinfurth, tree near wells, Mut Oasis; 
Daklila, MacDougal and Sykes 187 (Herb. Mus. Brit.), Khartoum, Schweinfurth 865. Sedan, 
Schweinfurth 537. Blue Nile, Muriel, 69; Schweinfurth 962; near Matamma, Schwein- 
furth 1865. Colonia Eritrea: Adi Gana, Pappi 192; Abyssinia: Cockburn ; Quartin- 
Dillon and Petit 167; Wellby ; Schweinfurth and Riva, 681. British East Africa: various — 
localities; James; Elliot 313; Whyte-Grenfell ; Diimmer 1781, 2008; Dowson 336 ; 
* De Candolle’s description reads as follows :— 
S. punctata, herbacea glabra, foliolis oblongo-linearibus obtusissimis mucronatis, 10-30-jugis, petiolo 
laevi superne pubescente, racemis multifloris, corolla calyce sextriplo longiore, leguminibus compressis 
subtorulosis rachi duplo triplove longioribus—in Senegal. (Perrottet), Flores flavi lin. 8-9 longi, vexillo 
punctis purpureis extus maculato (v.s. comm. a cl. Perrottet). 
