Ougeinici] XLV. LEaUMINOSJE 225 



and 3 in. diam., tlie well-known Sola, the soft Avliite wood, generally called pith, is made 

 into toys, floats, and Sola hats, invalnable as a protection against the sun. 



AlHagi Camelorum, Fischer ; Prain in Journ. As. Soc. Beng, vol. 66 (1898), 377. The 

 camel thorn, a thorny shrub, sending its roots deep into the ground, with small oblong 

 obtuse leaves and numerous axillarj^ stout spinescent bi'anchlets, often bearing leaves 

 and flowers, glabrous ovaries, and turgid pods. Widely sj^read fi^oni Gi-eece and Egypt, 

 through W ehtex-n Asia, Afghanistan and Baluchistan, extending over the arid and dry 

 regions of India, in moister dibtricts found on dry barren ground. Often gx^egarious. 

 A. Maiironim, Tournef. ; Prain, I.e., 378, has silky ovaries. 



Lespedeza, Michaux ; PL Brit. Ind. ii. 142. with trifoliolate 1. and short 1-seeded pods, 

 comprises numeroiifc, underhhrubs and a few shrubs. L. Prainii, Coll. et Hemsl. in Linn. 

 Soc. Journ. xxviii. 46, is a shrub 10 ft. high, common on the Shan table-land, 4,000- 

 5,000 ft., leaflets obovate, f.-l in., fl. purple in dense axillary racemes, longer than 

 leaves, pod glabrous. 



11. ABRUS, Linn. ; M. Brit. Ind. ii. 175. 

 (6 specieSj in the tropics of botli hemispheres.) 



1. A. precatorius, Linn. — Vern. GuncJii, KuncJij Hind. Mar. : Cliunilij 

 Dim ; Ywe-gnit^ Bunn. 



A climber, with woody stem and slender branches, twining round supports. 

 Leaves paripinnate, the common petiole terminating in a slender short 

 bristle. Leaflets opposite, nearly sessile, 10-15 pair, oblong, obtuse, often 

 miicronate. Fl. white or pink, in axillary pedunculate racemes. Pod oblong, 

 turgid, tlie fruiting peduncles persistent and irregularly thickened. Seeds 3-5, 

 ellipsoid or nearly globose, polished, generally red, witb a black eye on tbe 

 bilum, sometimes black with a white eye, more rarely quite white, stonyhard, 

 used as weights by jewellers. An acrid poison in the seed. 



Common in forest tracts of India and Burma, ascending in the outer Himalaya to 

 3,500 ft. Found in Merwara, but not known from the arid region of Sind and the 

 southern Punjab. Fl. Sept., Oct. A sea-shore species in the Indian Archipelago 

 (Schimper). Cosmopolitan within the tropics. 



2. A. pulclielliis, Wall.; also widely distributed, is similar, but has fiat slightly 

 curved pods with 8-12 seeds. 



12. MUCUNA, Adans. ; FL Brit. Ind. ii. 185. 



Woody or herbaceous twiners, leaves pinnately trifoliolate. Fl. large, dark 

 purple or greenish white, in pendulous racemes or corymbs, often from the old 

 wood. Calyx campanula te, 2 upper teeth connate, the lowermost longest. 

 Keel and wings longer than standard. Stamens diadelphous, anthers alter- 

 nately longer basifixed and shorter versatile. Pod usually covered with 

 brittle irritating bristles. Species 30, in the tropics of both hemispheres. 



The structure of the woody species merits further study. Some South American 

 Miicunas have soft spongy wood, irregular, more or less concentric masses of xylem, 

 alternating with bands of phloem. The xylem consists of thin-walled parenchyma, 

 traversed by longitudinal strands of vessels, sieve tubes and wood fibres. 



A. Face of pod covered with oblique plaits or lamellae. 



1. M. imbricata, DC. ; FL Brit. Ind. ii. 185. Leaves nearly glabrous. 

 Fl. dull purple, or white with purple spots, in short racemes, while in bud 

 covered by large concave imbricatxng bracts. Pod 4-6 in. long, 2-3 in. broad, 

 winged along both sutures ; seeds 2-3. 



Subhimalayan tract, Kumaon to Assam, Upper and Lower Burma, Andamans. Fl. 

 Aug.-Dec. 



2. M. monosperma, DC. ; Wight Ic. t. 35.— Syn. M, anguina^ Wall. PL 

 As. Ear. t. 236. 



Young shoots clothed with rusty tomentum. FL dark purple in a short 

 nodding pubescent corymb. Pod thick, broadly elliptic, 2 in. long, with a 



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