LEGUMINOSAE 



279 



but the other two have red flowers. Warburg's species is dis- 

 tinguished by having short calyx teeth. Mueller's species differs 

 from the Amboina form in its distinctly larger flowers and very 

 much longer calyx teeth. I am under obligations to Prof. A. 

 J. Ewart, curator of the national herbarium at Melbourne, for 

 a flower of d'Albertis's specimen, the type of Mucuna bennettii 

 F. Muell., for purposes of comparison, as well as for a copy of 

 Mueller's original description of the species. 



MUCUNA ATERRIMA (Piper & Tracy) comb. nov. 



Stizolobium aterrimum Piper & Tracy in U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. PI. 



Ind. Bull. 179 (1910) 18, t. U, f. B, t. 7. 

 Cacara nigra Rumph. Herb. Amb. 5: 381, t. 138. 

 Cacara pilosa Rumph. Herb. Amb. 5: 392. 



This species is not represented in our Amboina collections. 

 However, Cacara nigra is manifestly a Mucuna and is certainly 

 synonymous with the form recently described by Piper and Tracy 

 as Stizolobium aterrimum, as indicated by the Rumphian de- 

 scription, rather poor figure, and especially the data as to the 

 pods "ad ventrum tribus protuberantibus costis notati," and 

 the seeds "primo rubentia, dein fusca, ac tandem nigerrima, 

 glabra & splendentia." Stizolobium aterrimum was described 

 from cultivated specimens originating in Brazil, Australia, 

 Cochin-China, Barbadoes, Mauritius, Java, and Ceylon. Lin- 

 naeus erroneously reduced Cacara nigra to Phaseolus unguicu- 

 latus Linn., in Stickman Herb. Amb. (1754) 23, Amoen. Acad. 

 4 (1759) 132, Syst. ed. 10 (1759) 1162, and to Dolichos unguicu- 

 latus Linn., in Sp. PI. ed. 2 (1763) 1019, with which species it 

 has nothing in common. He was followed by Burman f., 

 Lamarck, Loureiro, Willdenow, Persoon, Henschel, Pritzel, and 

 Miquel. By other authors, Wight and Arnott, Prodr. (1834) 

 255, it was reduced, with doubt, to Mucuna capitata DC, which 

 it certainly is not; while Miquel, Fl. Ind. Bat. I 1 (1855) 228, 

 thought that it might be referable to Dolichos dasijcarpus 

 Miq.= Dysolobium dolichoides (Roxb.) Prain. Piper and 

 Tracy,* discuss Cacara nigra under Stizolobium capitatum 

 (Roxb.) 0. Kuntze= Mucuna capitata DC, but on account of 

 the unsatisfactory figure given by Rumphius failed to recognize 

 it as their Stizolobium aterrimum, while excluding it as a syn- 

 onym of S. capitatum O. Ktze. In spite of the poor figure the 

 description of the fruit ar>d flower characters applies very closely 

 in all particulars to Mucuna aterrima (Piper & Tracy) Merr. 



* The Florida velvet bean and related plants. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. PL 

 Ind. Bull. 179 (1910) 13. 



