LEGUMINOSJE. 193 



Forests of Delira Dun, Saliaranpiir, Eohilkhand and Oudh. Disteib. : 

 Outer Himalaya at low elevations. Cultivated throughout the hotter 

 parts of India, and in most tropical countries, Flowers February to 

 April, and the fruit ripens in May and June. The root and other 

 portions of the tree are used medicinally. The root is a well-known 

 substitute for the true horse-radish The foliage is often given as fodder 

 to camels. 



2. M. concanensis, 'Nimmo in J. Grah. Oat. Bomb, 43 ; D. ^ G. 

 Bomb. Fl.311; Brand, For. Fl. 130; F. B. I. ii, 45; Watt E. D. ; Stapf in 

 HooTc. Ic. PI, 2596. Vern. Sainjna. 



A small trae with 2-pinnate leaves. Leaflets larger and fewer than in the 

 preceding, broadly elliptic or suborbicular. Petals yellowish streaked 

 with pink. Capsule acutely triquetrous, valves hard. Seeds -| in. long. 



Merwara forests (Duthie). Distrib. : Baluchistan, Sindh, Eajputana, 

 Bombay. Fl. in November and December. The unripe fruit and the 

 flowers are eaten as a pot herb, and the pungent roots are said to be 

 used, like those of the preceding, as a substitute for horse-radish. 



XLIII.— LEGUMINOS^. 



^ Heebs, shrubs or trees. Leaves stipulate and usually alt'rnate, 

 pinnate or digitate or simple, often stipellate, souK^imes with the 

 rachis ending in a tendril. Inflorescence axillary leaf- opposed or 

 terminaL usaally simply racemose or panicled ; bracts and hr-'cteolet 

 usually both present. Flowers u>*ually irregular and hermaphrodite, 

 rarely regular or polygamous. Sepals 5, combined or free, often 

 unequal, sometimes forming a 2-lipped calvx Petals o, rarely fewer 

 by arrest, very rarely 0, usually free and unequal. Stamens normally 

 10, perigynous or almost hvpogynous, rarely fewer or indefinite ; 

 filaments free or variously combined ; anthers 2-('eUed, almost always 

 bursting longitudinally. Ovary free ; style simple, cylindric, usually 

 declinate ; stigma capitate, terminal or oblique ; ovules 1 or more on 

 the ventral suture. Fruit usually ' dry, a pod splitting open along 

 both sutures or on the ventral suture only, sometimes continuous and 

 indehiscent, ov separating into 1-seeded indehiscent segments. Seeds 

 usually exaibuminous. Cotyledons folaceons or amygdaloid with a 

 straight or inflezed accumbent radicle. A very large order, 3omposed 

 of three easily recognized suborders, and containing altogether about 

 8,000 species. The lar^u^est of these three suborders, Fapilionacecs, is 

 cosmopolitan in its distribution ; the other two, Ccesalpiniece and 

 MimosecB, do not extend beyond the tropical and warm temperate 

 zones. . » t , ^ 



