PULSE FAMILY. 



103 



more healthful and agreeable, if uot a more profitable, employment. 

 The indigo-plant is said to be annual, when subject to inundations, — 

 as on the delta of the Ganges : but it is sometimes fruticose — yielding 

 one or two ratoon crops (i. e. successive growths of suckers, or sprouts), 

 after having been cut off. Another species— I. Axil, L. — is said to 

 be also cultivated at the South. It diflers from the above chiefly in its 

 flattened, even (not torulose) pods. 



8. CI' GEE, Tournef. Ghick-pea. 



[The Latin name for a species of Vetch ; appUed to this genus.] 



Calyx somewhat gibbous at base, 5-parted ; segments acuminate, — 

 the upper ones incumbent on the vexillum. Legume turgid, 2-seeded. 

 Seeds gibbous. 



1. C. AEiETi'xoi, L. Leaves odd-pinnate; leaflets cuneate-obovate, 



serrate ; stipules lanceolate, subdeuticulate ; calyx slightly gibbous, — 



the segments as long as the wings of the corolla. 



Eam Cicer. GoSee-pea. Ghick-pea. Garavances. 



Fr. Le Pois Ghiche. Germ. Gemeine Kicher. Span. Garbauzo. 



Whole plant canescent and glandular-pilose, the hairs secreting oxalic acid. Boot 

 annual. Stem 9-18 inches high, branching. Leaflets about half an inch long, in 4-6 

 pairs (often alternate) with a terminal odd one instead of a tendril, i^iou-ers axillary , 

 solitary, white. Seed gibbous, pointed — in form resembling the head of a sheej) — and 

 hence the specific name. 



Gardens: cultivated. Native of Europe and the East. J"?. July -September. Fr. 

 August - October. 



Obs. This is sometimes cultivated for tbe seeds — which are said to 

 be a tolerable substitute for coffee. The seeds are much used, as food 

 for horses, kc. in India, — being very abundant (as I recollect to have 

 seen it) in the Bazaars at Calcutta, under the name of Gram." This 

 vetch is the '■ Hamoos Pea which is announced as a novelty, or a great 

 curiosity (discovered among the Arabs) in Lyxch's Expedition to the 

 Dead Sea ; though it has been familiarly known in the gardens, through- 

 out the civilized world, ever since the days of Tournefort — if not of 

 Homer I So much for the penny-wise policy of sending out Exploring 

 Expeditious unaccompanied by competent Xaturalists. 



9. AEA'CHIS, L. Peaxxt. 



[An ancient name of obscure meaning.] 



DioEciously polgyamous. The sterile and fertile flowers produced together 

 in the axils ; the sterile, most numerous in the upper axils, with a 

 slender calyx tube, the limb bilabiate, the upper lip 4-toothed. the lower 

 entire. Stamens monadelphous (9 united and 1 abortive.) ovan/ mi- 

 nute, abortive. Fertile fl. without cahx, corolla, or stamens. Ovary 

 on an elongating stipe by which it is thrust under ground, where it ma- 

 tures as an oblong obtuse terete pod, the indehisceut valves becoming 

 thickened and sonewhat woody, reticulately veined on the surface. 



