74 
LEGUMINOSiE. 
[ Desmodium . 
long. Calyx minute ; teeth lanceolate or deltoid. Corolla red, £ in. long. 
Pod an inch long, densely pilose ; joints 5-6 ; upper suture straight, 
lower deeply waved. D. sparsiflorum, G. Don. 
Mauritius, in dry places on the mountains, chiefly round Port Louis. Coin de 
Mire, Home ! Rodriguez, common, Balfour ! Seychelles, common in Mahe 
and Praslin, etc., Bouton ! Horne ! Also Tropical Africa and America, not Asia. 
4. D. mauritianum, DC. Prod. ii. 334. A much-branched peren- 
nial, 1-3 ft. high, with woody wiry branches, pilose only towards the 
top. Leaves short-petioled ; leaflets 3, obovate, firm, obtuse, £-£ in. 
long, greenish and obscurely silky beneath ; stipules minute, lanceolate, 
scariose. Racemes peduncled, 2-3 in. long, moderately dense, mostly 
terminal ; pedicels ^ in. long, slender, glabrous. Calyx T Y in. long ; 
teeth deep, linear. Corolla red, twice the length of the calyx. Pod 
straight, pilose, f in. long ; joints 4-5 ; upper suture straight, lower 
deeply waved. 
Mauritius and Rodriguez, frequent in dry soil. Madagascar and through 
Tropical Africa. 
5. D. oxybracteum, DC. Prod. ii. 334. An erect perennial herb, 
3-4 ft. high, with sulcate branches, finely pilose upwards. Leaves long- 
petioled ; leaflets 3, stipellate, oblong-lanceolate, acute, subglabrous, 
glaucous beneath, 4-6 in. long ; stipules large, lanceolate, persistent. 
Racemes copious, dense, peduncled, axillary and terminal ; bracts i in. 
long, lanceolate acuminate ; pedicels short. Calyx ^ in long ; teeth 
deep, linear. Corolla red, twice as long as the calyx. Pod sessile, 
in long, pubescent ; joints 4-5, twice as long as broad ; upper 
suture straight, lower little indented. D. paleaceum, Quill, and Per. 
FI. Seneg. 209. D. grande, E. Meyer. 
Described by De Candolle from Mauritius, hut not seen there lately. It is 
spread from Senegambia to Natal, and we have it from Madagascar, Bourbon, and 
Johanna Island. 
6. D. polycarpum, DC. Prod. ii. 334. An erect perennial, 2-3 ft. 
high, with firm pilose branches. Leaves distinctly petioled, subcoria- 
ceous, naked above, thinly grey-silky below ; leaflets obovate, obtuse, 
the end one largest, 1J-2 in. long; stipules lanceolate, acuminate, 
persistent. Flowers in dense terminal and lateral racemes, hidden at 
first by the large lanceolate bracts ; pedicels i— in. long, glabrous. 
Calyx -jL- in. deep ; teetb long, acuminate. Corolla reddish, under 
£ in. long. Pod strapshaped, downy, under an inch long ; joints 6-8 ; 
lower suture little indented. D. spectabile, Bojer , Hort. Maur. 99 
(name). 
Seychelles, common in Mahe on the beaches, Horne, 489 ! A common Asian and 
Polynesian species found by Bojer in Zanzibar, but not known on the African con- 
tinent. 
7. D. triflorum, Z>6'. Prod. ii. 334. A perennial herb, with diffuse 
