254 LEGUMINOS^. [Indigofera.. 



" clearly to a different origin. Its normal condition is like that of 

 Erythrina resupinata, Grewia sapida and of other well-known ex- 



- amples of shruhs, or even trees, which have become permanently dwarfed 

 tinder the influence of periodical forest fires, and at present it is difficult 

 to say what other changes may not have been produced thereby. 



14. I. hirsuta» Linn. Sp. PI. 751 ; Boxh- Fl. Ind. Hi, 376 ; W. ^ A. 



Prod. 2G4 ; f . B. I Hi, 9S. 



A puberect annual or biennial herb, 2-4 ft. high. Stem densely clothed with 

 grey or brown pubescence. Leaves 2-5 in._ long, short pstioled ; 

 stipules setaceous, plumose ; leaflets 5-11, opposite^ 1-2 in. long, obovate, 

 membranous, densely coated with appressed hairs, greyish-green above, 

 glaucous beneath. Kacemes 2-6 in. long, on short peduncles. Floivers 

 many, crowded. Calyx densely pubescent ; teeth long, setaceous, 

 plumose. Corolla little exserted, reddish. Pod i-| in., straight 4- 

 angular, densely pubescent, 6-3-seeded. 



Common within the area.. Distbib. W. Himalaya, up to 4,5 '10 ft., and 

 throughout the plains of India to Ceylon, Burma and the Malay Penins. ; 

 also in Java, the Philippines, N". Australia, Trop. Africa and America. 



15. I. articulata, Gouan 111,49; Prain Sf E. Baker in Journ. Bot, 

 XL {1902), 141. 1, argentea, Linn, {not of Burm.). I. Houer, Forsk. I. coeru- 

 lea, Roxb.; Fl. ind. Hi, 377. I. argentea var. coerulea, jf' B.I. ii, 99; 

 Watt E. D.— Vern. Ml (Eajputana). 



A shrub, 2-3 ft, high. Stems and branches m.ore or less silvery -canescent, 

 angled and striate. Leaves 1-2 in ; petiole 5-^ in. ; stipules minute, 

 subulate-, ieay?ets 3-5, or (in the Eajputana f orm) 7-11, opposite i-1 in. 

 long, obovate, rounded and apiculate at the 9.pex, silvery-canescent 

 on both sarf aces, or almost glabrous, iiacswes shorter than the leaves, 

 nearly sessile, many-flowered. Calyx silvery-hairy ; teeth deltoid, 

 acute. Corolla reddish-yellow, hairy externally. Pods about i in 

 long, deflexed, turgid, more or less torulose, silvery-pubescent when 

 young. Seeds usually 3. 



■ Bundelkhand (Edgeworth), Merwara in Eajputana (Duthie). Distbib. 

 Plains ■ f Sind and in W, and S- India, also in Arabia, Egypt and Abys- 

 sinia. Dr. Prain is of opinion that the p^ant, as represented within 

 this area, is 1. Houer of Porskbal, a form of / articulata which extends 

 from Arabia tj Sind and Rajput 4 na, and stands intermediate in 

 characters, as it does in locality, between the Egyptian or original form 

 of 1. articulata and the eastern state of the same species, named 

 7. ccerulea by Roxburgh. He also believes 'hat this plant is not really 

 indigenous in India, but may represent the remains of former culti- 

 vation. The dye yielded by it is described by Roxburgh (Fl. Ind. I.e.) as 

 being of superior quality to that of I. tinctoria. 



16 I. tinctoria, Linn. Sp. PI. 751 {in part) ; Roxh. FL Ind. Hi, 379,' 

 ' W.^ A. Prod 202,; Royle III. 195; D. Sf G. Bomb. Fl. 59 ; Brand. For. 



