Galactia.] 
XLIII. LEGUMINOS^E. 
431 
fit of abstraction he pulled up the root and ate it. Fancying it gave him relief, he pulled more, 
boiled it, and drank the. liquor. Within a week there was a marked change in him, and now 
(17th March) he is quite well and looks ten years younger. ... A miner, who has been 
suffering for over two years from a scrofulous affection, took a decoction of this root for a fort- 
night, and his skin seems now perfectly clear, and he tells me he feels a new man. ... I 
had a slight touch of rheumatism in the leg, and tried a decoction of the root, with the result 
that the pain has gone and the stiffness is wearing away.” 
Used for poisoning water for fish, Roth. 
Dr. Joseph Lauterer says that the sticky yellow resin of the roots might be recommended in 
rheumatism, skin diseases, scrofulosis, syphilis, and in some of these it might surpass guaiacum 
in quickness and certainty of effect. 
59. CAN AVALIA, DC. 
(Malabar name of a species.) 
Calyx 2 upper lobes united into a large obtuse entire or 2-lobed upper lip, 3 
lower ones into a much smaller entire or 3-lobed lower lip. Standard broad, 
reflexed, with 2 callosities inside above the claw ; wings oblong or linear, falcate 
or twisted, free ; keel incurved and sometimes rostrate. Stamens all united in a 
tube, open at the very base, where the upper one is free ; anthers uniform. 
Ovary shortly stipitate, with several ovules ; style filiform or slightly thickened, 
with a terminal stigma. Pod oblong or linear, broad, 2-valved, with a prominent 
longitudinal rib or wing on each side of the upper suture. Seeds rounded or 
oblong, with a linear hilum, varying in length.— Large herbs with twining or 
trailing stems. Leaflets 3, usually large, stipulate. Stipules minute, often 
gland-like or none. Flowers rather large, purplish pink or white, in axillary 
racemes ; pedicels very short, clustered on lateral nodes along the upper portion 
of the rhachis. Bracts minute. Bracteoles small, orbicular, very deciduous. 
The species are widely distributed over the tropical regions of the New and the Old World, 
some of them cultivated in India for food, although others are very poisonous. The Australian 
one is a common maritime plant. The genus is readily known by the calyx, different from all 
except some species of Plinscolus, which have a very different keel, stigma, and pod. — Bentli. 
1. C. obtusifolia (leaflets obtuse), DC. Prod. ii. 404 ; Bentli. FI. Austr. ii. 
256. Glabrous or the young shoots silky-pubescent (in the variety densely silky- 
tomentose), the stems more frequently prostrate or trailing than twining. Leaflets 
broadly obovate or orbicular, very obtuse or retuse, 2 to Sin. long and rather 
thick, rarely thinner, attaining 4 or Sin. and obscurely acuminate. Flowers pink 
or nearly white, along the upper portion of stout erect peduncles, varying from 
6in. to 1ft. in length. Calyx nearly |in. long, the upper lip nearly as long as the 
tube, with 2 very broad rounded lobes, the lower nearly half as long with 3 small 
lobes. Standard orbicular, fin. diameter ; keel much curved, but obtuse. Pod f 
to lin. broad, the longitudinal ones very narrow. Seeds 2 to 8, the hilum oblong 
or shortly linear, not half the length of the seed. — Benth. in Mart. FI. Bras. Pap. 
178, t. 48, where the numerous synonyms are quoted. 
Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, R. Brown ; Endeavour River, Bustard Bay, Bay of 
Inlets, &c., Banks and. Solander, R. Brown; Moreton Bay, F. v. Mueller; Ipswich, Nernst; 
Broadsound and Fitzroy River, Bowman. 
The species is common on the sea-coasts of S. America, Africa, and tropical Asia. 
Var. sericea. Leaflets oval-rotund, rather thick, about 2in. long, 1 Jin. broad ; lateral nerves 
4 or 5 on each side of costule, upper side sparsely, under side densely silky-tomentose. Peduncles 
rather shorter and flowers darker than in the normal form. Pod 4in. long, lin. broad, straight ; 
valves hard. Seeds about 4, light-brown. Hab.: Bustard Head, Jas. Keys. 
Some botanists consider that this may be the wild state of C. ensiformis, which is probable ; 
the pods of the Queensland species vary considerably in length and width. 
2. : C. ensiformis (sword-shaped), DC. Prod. ii. 404 ; Baker in FI. Prop. 
Afr. ii. 190. Stems widely climbing, subglabrous. Stipules minute, deciduous. 
Petiole 2 to Gin. long. Leaflets 3 ; central one ovate or oblong, 3 to Gin. long ; 
lateral ones smaller, unequal-sided, membranous, glabrescent. Flowers numerous, 
