THE BOTANICAL HISTORY OF THE CULTIVATED VIGNAS. 13 



fields in Egypt near the Nile, the roots frequently being immersed. 

 Delile later published a beautiful figure of the plant, and states that 

 it is abundant in Egypt on the borders of the Nile, especially about 

 Byrimbal (Berimbal) and Metoubis (Matubis). Delile's figure, as 

 well as authentic botanical specimens, shows this species to be very 

 different from any of those described above and easily recognizable 

 by its small, sharp-pointed, hairy pods, which are borne in clusters 

 of 5 to 10. It seems not unlikely that Hooker confused the cowpea 

 with this species, as the cowpea is abundantly cultivated throughout 

 Africa, and thus far we have not obtained Vigna nilotica from any 

 source. 



Under Vigna capensis Walp., Hiern (Catalogue of African Plants 

 collected by Welwitsch, 1896, vol. 1, p. 257) gives a field, note of 

 Welwitsch on a single specimen to the effect that this is planted in 

 fields of sugar cane near Boa Vista, Portugese West Africa. It is 

 quite likely that this particular specimen is really the cowpea, as 

 this is commonly grown by the natives in Africa. Two different 

 plants have been named Vigna capensis, both from South Africa, 

 where no botanist has spoken of them as being cultivated plants. 



The treatment of the agricultural varieties of cowpeas and cat- 

 jangs by botanical writers is very diverse. Hasskarl, 1842 (Flora, 

 25th year, vol. 2, Beiblatter, pp. 50, 51), calls the cowpea Dolichos 

 sinensis and describes four varieties: Ater with black seeds; rubigi- 

 nosus with reddish seeds; elongatus with pods 14 to 18 inches long 

 and punctulate reddish seeds; and maculatus with reddish seeds 

 spotted with chestnut. His " var. elongatus " is perhaps a variety of 

 asparagus bean. Miquel, 1845 (Flora Indiae Bataviae, vol. 1, p. 187), 

 adopts all of Hasskarl's varieties under Vigna sinensis. Voigt, 1845 

 (Hortus Suburbanus Calcuttensis, p. 232), apparently unites the cow- 

 pea and the catjang under one species, Dolichos sinensis, calling the 

 former " var. eccremocarpus " on account of its pendulous pods and 

 the latter " var. orthocarpus " owing to its erect pods. Martens, 1869 

 (Die Gartenbohne, ed. 2, p. 99), takes up DeCandolle's name Dolichos 

 melanophthalmus for the black-eyed cowpea and describes as " var. 

 oryzoides " a buff-seeded form he obtained in Venice. As a sub- 

 variety of this he also mentions a brown-seeded form from Berlin, 

 Lisbon, Tivoli, and Stuttgart. For the asparagus bean he errone- 

 ously adopts Dolichos sinensis in preference to D. sesquipedalis, and 

 under it lists the four varieties of Hasskarl mentioned above. Mar- 

 tens's conception of Dolichos catjang L. is given under four different 

 varieties, viz, niger, rufus, luteolus, and variegatus. The first two 

 are catjangs mentioned by Louriero (Flora Cochinchinensis, vol. 1, 

 p. 539) under the vernacular names "Dau den" and "Dau dea," the 

 former with black, the latter with reddish seeds ; var. luteolus is Vigna 

 luteolus J acquin, a perfectly distinct species ; var. variegatus is based 



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