i.i:guminos/K. 
241 
subglabrous, branched. Leaves |ths of an inch long and half 
as broad, glabrous, with the middle leaflet the largest. 
Flowers of a dirty yellow, shortly peduncled. Legumes an 
inch in length, brown, narrow towards the footstalk, 5-6-seeded' 
seeds small, compressed, making a noise in the pod. 
According to Vahl, the leaves are subsericeous beneath. 
5. Crotalaria striata. Striated Rattle-wort. 
Stipules none, leaves 3-foliate, leaflets elliptic ob- 
tuse mucronate subglabrous above puberulous with 
appressed hairs beneath, racemes terminal, bracteas 
setaceous deciduous, petals streaked, legumes pendu- 
lous cylindrical glabrous, stipes very short. 
C. Brownei, Bertero, De Cand. Prod. II. 130. — C. Striata, 
De Cand. Prod. II. 131. — Hooker , Bot. Mag. 3200. 
HAB. Common, especially along the roads in mountain dis- 
tricts. 
FL. October — December. 
Suffruticose, about 4 feet in height, erect, not much branched, 
terete, striated, more or less coloured, minutely puberulous. 
Leaflets shortly petiolulated, elliptic, acute at the base, subu- 
lato-mucronate, glabrous, light green above, minutely puber- 
ulous with appressed hairs and paler beneath, about equal in 
length to the petiole. Racemes simple, subterminal, sometimes 
a foot in length, the middle florets only fertile. Rachis angu- 
lose, puberulous : pedicels short, terete, pruinose, recurved, 
furnished at the base with subulato-filiform early deciduous 
bracteas. Flowers numerous, drooping. Calyx puberulous; 
lower lip 3-partite, the middle division elongato-lanceolate ; the 
upper 2-fid, lanceolate, recurved. Petals thrice as long as the 
calyx, yellow, veined with brownish purple : standard broadly 
oblong, reflexed ; wings subfalcate, bluntish, not half the length 
of the keel, which is about the same length as the standard, and 
very much acuminate. Ovary whitish, puberulous. Legume 
an inch and a half in length, bearing the persistent style as a 
beak. Seeds reniform, numerous. 
This is a very common weed, and springs up in the greatest 
abundance, towards Autumn, along the mountain roads. The 
leaves retain the drops of moisture for some time after the rain, 
and is a subject of annoyance to passengers in paths which are 
but little frequented, and where it is allowed to encroach un- 
disturbed. It has hence received the name of the Water-busk. 
There is a very good figure in the Botanical Magazine, taken 
from a plant raised from seed sent from the Mauritius. Ac- 
cording to De Candolle, it is a native of the East Indies. It 
is difficult to say whether it was originally indigenous to this 
vo r.. i it 
