434 
XLIII. LEGUMINOSiE. 
[ Vigna . 
side ; stigma very oblique or on the inner side of the style. Pod linear, nearly 
terete when ripe, 2-valved. Seeds with a small or shortly linear hilum, not 
strophiolate. — Herbs either prostrate and trailing or twining, or short and erect 
in the same species. Leaves pinnately trifoliolate, stipellate, the leaflets entire 
or 3-lobed. Stipules usually persistent, rarely produced below their insertion. 
Flowers greenish yellow or purple, on very short pedicels, in clusters of 2 or 3 on 
lateral nodes in the upper portion of long axillary peduncles, or more frequently 
only 1 or 2 such clusters at the end of the peduncle. Bracts and bracteoles 
usually very deciduous. 
The genus is as widely distributed as Phaseolus over the warmer regions of the New and the 
Old World, and comprises several extensively cultivated species. It only differs indeed from 
Phaseolus in the keel not forming complete spires. Of the four Australian species, three have a 
very wide range in the New and the Old World, the fourth is endemic. — Benth. 
Calyx-lobes acute, as long as the tube, the 2 upper united at the base only. 
Keel with a long obliquely incurved beak I. V. vexillata. 
Calyx-lobes short, the 2 upper ones united into one broad entire one. Keel 
rather acute, but not beaked. 
Leaflets obovate, very obtuse 2. V. lutea. 
Leaflets mostly ovate, acute or acuminate, or narrow and lanceolate or 
linear. 
Flowers 7 or 8 lines long. Leaflets mostly ovate 3. V. luteola. 
Flowers about 5 lines long. Leaflets mostly lanceolate or linear ... 4. V. lanceolata. 
1. V. vexillata (standard prominent), Bentli. in Mart. FI. Bras. Papil. 
193, t. 50, /. 1 ; Benth. FI. Austr. ii. 258. Stems, from a tuberous rootstock, 
twining and hirsute as well as the leaves, the hairs reflexed on the branches, more 
appressed and scattered on the leaves, rarely at length glabrous. Leaflets usually 
ovate-lanceolate in the lower leaves, narrow-lanceolate in the upper ones, 2 to 4in. 
long and entire, but varying in breadth and size. Stipules cordate-lanceolate, 
sometimes shortly auriculate. Flowers greenish-yellow, more or less tinged with 
purple, larger than in most species, 2 to 4 together at the summit of the peduncle. 
Calyx 4 to 5 lines long, the lobes lanceolate, acuminate, as long as the tube, the 
2 upper ones shortly united at the base. Standard 10 or 11 lines diameter, 
reflexed ; wings rather shorter, one with a long auricle at the base, the other with 
scarcely any ; keel with a long incurved almost involute oblique beak, not how- 
ever forming a complete spire, and with a lateral spur on one side below the beak. 
Stigma thick, on the inner side of the style above the beard. Pod nearly cylin- 
drical, straight or slightly curved, 3 to 4in. long, about 2 lines broad. — Phaseolus 
vexillatus, Linn.; Jacq. Hort. Vind. t. 102 ; Vigna hirta, Hook. Ic. PI. t. 637 ; V. 
tuberosa, A. Rich. Tent. FI. Abyss, i. 217, t. 42. 
Hab.: Bustard Bay and Endeavour River, Banks and Solander ; Broadsound, &c., R. Broivn ; 
Moreton Bay, Bidwill ; Pine River, Fitzalan ; Burdekin and Burnett Rivers, F. v. Mueller ; Port 
Curtis, M‘Gillivray ; Bowen River, Boicman; Rockhampton, Thozet, Dallachy. 
The species is widely spread over tropical Asia, Africa, and America. By the obliquity of the 
flower and length of the beak it is intermediate in some respects between Vigna and Phaseolus, 
and has been placed alternately by botanists in either of these genera or in Dolichos, or has been 
proposed as a distinct genus under the name of Plectrotropis by Schumacher and of Strophostyles 
by E. Meyer, as appears by the extensive synonymy collected in the “ Flora Brasiliensis ” above 
quoted. — Benth. 
2. V. lutea (yellow), A. Gray, Bot. Amer. Plxpl. Exped. i. 454 ; Benth. FI. 
Austr. ii. 259. Rather coarse, prostrate, trailing or shortly twining, nearly 
glabrous or the young shoots hoary or silky, with centrally fixed appressed hairs. 
Leaflets orbicular, obovate or ovate-rhomboid, usually very obtuse, 1^ to Sin. 
long. Stipules short and broad ; stipellte obtuse. Flowers yellow, like those of 
V. luteola, in few clusters crowded at the end of the peduncle. Calyx 1£ line long, 
the lobes or teeth shorter than the tube, the 2 upper ones united into one short 
and broad one. Standard above -|in. diameter or rather more ; keel broad, much 
incurved, rather acute, but not beaked. Stigma oblong, very oblique or quite on 
