LssPEDEZA 1 LEGUMINOSM. 271 



straight, lower mor^ or less indented ; joints G-10, smooth or finally 

 papillose, readily separating. 



^Oommon within the area. Disteib. W. Himalaya from Kashmir to 

 Kumaon, iip to 5,000 ft., and throughout the plains of India to Ceylon ; 

 also in the Andaman Islands, Siam and Japan, and generally in the 

 tropics of the Old World. Flowers during the rainy season. The base 

 of the stems is sometimes swollen, but not to the same extent as in the 

 next species. 



2. m, aspera, Linn. Sj). FL 113 / W. Sf A. Trod. 219 ; Royle. III. 191 ; 

 F.B.I.ii,152; WattE.D. Hedysarum lagenarium, Eoxh ; Ft, Ind. Hi, 

 -365,— Vern. Sola. 



A tall erect shrub-like aquatic perennial. Stems very stout, pith-like, 

 usually unbranched, often horizontal below when floating, glabrous. 

 Leaves large, shortly stalked or sessile ; rachis 3-6 ia. long ; stipules ^ in. 

 or more, linear, acuminate, with a rounded ciliated auricle at the base, 

 deciduous ; leaflets as in .^. indica, but more numerous and twice as large. 

 Flowers rather large, 2-1, arranged in axillary corymbose racemes which 

 are much shorter than the leaves ; peduncles and pedicels bristly ; tracts 



^ and &j'acteo/(3s ovate, acute Ca/'i/a; fin., hispid, upper lip rounded- Corolla 

 twice the calyx, yellow, fugacious ; keel petals hairy outside. Pod 2-3 

 in. long, broader than in JE. indica, woody, nearly straight ; joints 

 3-8, indented on both surfaces or on the lower one only, distinctly 

 echinate on the faces when mature. 



Pathri forest in the Saharanpur dist. (Kanjilal). Distrie. In swamps 

 throughout India, except in the dry North- West : Ceylon, Malay Penins. 

 and Islands and in Trop. Africa. Flowers during the rains. The soft 

 pith-like wood is largely used by fishermen for floats, and from slices 

 of the stem the well-known pith-hats {sola-topis) are made. 



49. LESPSDSZA, Mich. ; Fl. Brit. lud. ii, 112. 



Herbs or undershmbs. Leaves 3-foliolate, exstipellate. Floweys 

 ■copious, in racemes, or crowded in the leaf-axils. Calyx campa- 

 iiulate, teeth lanceolate or linear. Corolla exserted, standard broad, 

 keel obtuse or acute. Stamens 2-adelphous, anthers uniform. 

 Ovary sessile or stalked, 1 -ovulate ; 5^y^e long, filiform, incurved; 

 5^^^w^a minute, terminal. T'od small, oblong, compressed, 1-seeded, 

 reticulate-veined, indehiscent. — Species about 33, in the Temp, and 

 Trop. regions of both hemispheres. 



Leaflets linear-cuneate, flowers fascicled, keel 

 obtuse • . . . . ■ . . i. L. sericea. 



Leaflets obovate-cuneate, flowers in racemes ; 



keel acute, much incurved . . . 2. L. stenocarpa. 



