286 LEaUMINOS^. [Desmodium. 



A procumlDent wide-trailing herb. Stems many, mucii-branched, pubes- 

 cent when young. Leaves 3-foliolate ; stipules about as long as the 

 petiole, linear-setaceous, persistent ; leaflets ^-| in., oval or obovate, 

 obtuse or subacute, mucronate, glabrous above, pubescent beneath! 

 Racemes usually terminal, exceeding the leaves, laxly 6-8-flowered ; 

 'pedicels filiform ; bracts lanceolate- cuspidate, loosely imbricate in bud,' 

 soon deciduous. Calyx ^ in., hairy, teeth acuminate. Corolla purple! 

 Pod about i in., both sutures indented ; joints 3-4, suborbicular, minutely 

 pubescent. 



Common within the area. Distrib. Outer Himalaya, ascending to 

 7,000 ft. in Kumam, and throughout the plains of India to Ceylon and 

 Burma ; also in the Malay Islands, China and Japan. Flowers during 

 the rains. The plant is much eaten by cattle. 



11. D. triquetrum, DC. Prod, ii, 826; W. <^ A. Prod. 224; D. Sf G. 

 ' Bomb. Fl. 66 ; F.B.I, ii, 163 {in part) ; Prain in Journ. As. Sac. Beng. 



LXVI, part ii, 143, 390. Hedysarum alatum, Boxb. ; Fl. Ind. Hi, 348. 



An erect shrub, with grooved triangular glabrescent branches. 

 Leaves 1-f oliolate ; petiole 1 in., broadly winged; stipules ^-| in., 

 closely parallel-veined, persistent ; leaflet 4-5 in. long, narrowly oblong- 

 lanceolate, acute, base rounded or subcordafce, green glabrous and 

 reticulate-veined on both surfaces, main lateral nerves 15-20 pairs ; 

 stipels small, adnate to upper margin of the petiolar wing. Inflores' 

 cence of narrow axillary and terminal racemes 6-10 in. long, consisting 

 of s ilitary or fascicled flowers in the axils of scarious sdpule-likg 

 bracts, with similar but smaller ones at their base. Calyx ^ in., 

 sparsely hairy ; upper teeth deltoid, lower linear. Corolla J in., purple. 

 Pod 1-2 in. long ; joints 6-8, thin, a little broader than long, densely 

 and persistently hairy. 



Eohilkhand, in the Pilibhit dist., and in the Kheri dist. of N". Oudh 

 (Duthie's collector). Disteib. Cent, W. and S- India to Ceylon ; 

 Assam, Khasia, Chittagong, Burma and Perak ; also in Java, Tonkin 

 and Hongkong. 



12. D. pseudo-triQLuetrum, DC. Prod, ii, 326. D. triquetrum, F.B. 

 I. ii, 163 (in part) . D. triquetrum, subsp. pseudo-triquetrum, Prain in 

 Journ. As. 8oc. Beng. LXVI, 300. Hedysarum triquetrum, Boxb. ; Fl. 

 Ind. Hi, 847 [not of Linn.). 



Similar in many respects to the above, but easily distinguished by its 

 prostrate habit, and by its pods which are quite glabrous except for a 

 line of appressed hairs along each suture. 



Dehra Dun. Distbib. Along the base of the Himalaya from Kangra 

 to Sikkim and the Duars, also in the plains of Bengal, the Assam 

 valley and on the Khasia and Naga Hills. Flowers during the rains. 



13. D. gangeticum, DC Prod, ii, 327 ; W. Sf A. Prod. 225 ; D. ^ G. 

 Bomb. Fl. 66 ; F.B.I, ii, 168 ; Watt E.D. Hedysarum gangeticum, Linn. ; 

 Boxb. Fl. Ind. Hi, 349. H. c-Alinnm, Boxb. i.e.— Vern. Salpan. 



