82 
LEGUMINOSiE. 
\_Erythrina. 
prickly branches and dense racemes of large coral-red flowers ; leaves 
trifoliolate. Distbib. Warmer zones of the Old and New World. 
Species 25-30. 
1. E. indica, Lam.; DC. Prod. ii. 412. A tall tree with stout branch- 
lets, armed with minute hard prickles. Petiole 4-6 in. long ; 
leaflets membranous, the end one pointed, 4-6 in. long and broad. 
Racemes dense, 6-9 in. long, on spreading stout woody peduncles ; 
pedicels tomentose, in. long. Calyx an inch or more long, mi- 
nutely 5-toothed at the very oblique mouth, splitting to the base down 
the upper side. Standard 2-2| in. long. Pod |-1 ft. long, distinctly 
torulose. 
Mauritius, naturalised in several places. Seychelles, frequent in Mahe and 
Praslin, apparently indigenous, Horne , 468 ! Kodriguez, common, especially in 
Anse Mourouc, Balfour ! Polynesia and Tropical Asia, not African. Mourouc. 
13. MUCUNA, Adans. 
Calyx-tube campanulate ; teeth 4, the two upper connate. Corolla 
papilionaceous ; standard not more than half as long as the beaked keel, 
which slightly exceeds the wings. Stamens diadelphous ; anthers dimor- 
phous, like those of Genisteoe. Ovary sessile, many-ovuled ; style in- 
curved, beardless ; stigma capitate. Pod oblong, variously winged and 
armed on the faces.' — Herbs or shrubby climbers, with pinnately trifo- 
liolate leaves ; flowers large, showy, purple, turning black when dried. 
Distbib. Species 20 ; round the world in the tropics. 
Pod without wings at the sutures, hut with ridges on the faces, 1. M. atropurpurea. 
Pod without ridges on the faces, but with wings at the sutures, 2. M. gigantea. 
1. M. atropurpurea, DC. Prod. ii. 406. A woody climber, with 
slender glabrous branches. Leaves long-petioled ; leaflets 3, stipeliate, 
membranous, glabrous, 4-6 in. long, central one oblong-cuspidate. 
Plowers in long-peduncled axillary racemes; bracts small, ovate, deci- 
duous ; bracteoles obtuse, oblong-spathulate, i in. long. Calyx | in. 
long, deeply bilabiate. Corolla large, dark purple. Pod sessile, oblong, 
coriaceous, 3 in. long, not winged, the faces traversed by oblique waved 
ridges, two-seeded. Carpopogon atropurpureum, Poxb 
Seychelles, common in Mahe, Perville, Horne ! Also East Indies. In Mauritius 
cultivated in gardens under the name of Pois Eveque. 
2. M. gigantea, DC. Prod . ii. 406. A woody climber, with slen- 
der glabrous branches. Leaflets 3, membranous, glabrous, 3-4 in. long, 
stipeliate; end one oblong-cuspidate. Flowers in long peduncled 
drooping crowded racemes ; bracts oblong, wrapping up the buds. 
Calyx campanulate, ± in. long and broad ; upper lip subentire ; lower 
with 3 small deltoid teeth. Corolla yellow, 1-lf in. long ; keel twice as 
long as the standard. Pod stalked, oblong, flat, 4-5 in. long, with tw r o 
broad rigid wings to each suture, clothed on the ridgeless faces with 
deciduous stinging bristles. 
