978. (bis) G ouania leptostachya (D.C.:) branches
glabrous : leaves ovate, acuminated, slightly cordate at
the base, coarsely creuate-serrated, glabrous : racemes
interrupted, axillary or in terminal panicles, elongated
when young, pubescent, afterwards glabrous:
flowers on very short pedicels, polygamous : disk
glabrous, stellate ; accessory angles partly aduate to
the calycine lobes, free and acuminated towards the
two-horned apex : fruit glabrous, shortly winged,—
W. and A. Prod. p. 166. ^ ^ .
An extensively straggling climbing shrub, found in
great abundance along the road between Burliar and
Coouoor, flowering towards the end of the year and
maturing its fruit during the hot season. We formerly
supposed this species confined1 to the Northern
parts of the Peninsula, a poiut on which, it now appears
we were mistaken.
979. Sophora glauca (Lesch.) shrubby : leaflets
19-23, elliptical, mucronate, upper side glaucous and
velvety, under villous : racemes terminal, crowded.—
W. and A . Prod. p. 179.
Very abundant on the Neilgherries, in flower at all
seasons. A handsome flowering shrub from 6 to 12
feet high, all the green parts except the upper surface
of the leaves clothed with soft pubescence, flowers
pale purple : seed oval, polished very hard.
980. Crotalaria barbata (Graham:) herbaceous,
erect, densely clothed with dark brown hairs:
stipules minute, inconspicuous : leaves oblong-lanceolate,
bluntish ; racemes terminal, elongated; flowers
few, distant : calyx a little shorter than the corolla,
deeply 5-cleft, very hairy ; segments slightly falcate :
legume glabrous, stalked, 2-3 times the length of the
calyx, obovoid : apex of the style and stigma woolly.
— TV. and A. Prod.p. 181.
Not unfrequent in woods about Ootacamund, in
moist soil on the banks of streams. A large species
conspicuous on account of the large size and bright
yellow colour of its flowers. It is very readily distinguished
by the universal hairiness of all the young
parts. Among bushes where it obtains support, it
often attains the height of 10 or 12 feet. The whole
plant turns black in drying.
981. Crotalaria Formosa (Gr a h ame r e c t ,
branched, all over villous except the upper side of the
leaves: stems terete: stipules minute, setaceous,
reflexed : leaves cuneate, obovate, obtuse, glabrous
on the upper side, villous beneath : bracteas lanceolate,
acuminated, lower ones without flowers : flowers
in a dense raceme at the extremities of the bracteated
elongated branches : bracteoles setaceous, on the
middle of the pedicels : calyx villous ; legum oblong,
borader upwards, glabrous, about 4 times the length
of the calyx, many-seeded.— W. and A. Prod. p. 186.
Frequent in pasture grounds on the hill sides, flowering
in greatest perfection during the months of February
and March, It is an erect shrubby species,
rising in favourable situations to the height of between
4 and 5 feet, but is generally met with much lower.
The leaves are a fine pea green colour above, clothed
with white addressed hairs beneath, flowers pale
yellow streaked with brown.
982. Crotalaria Wallichiana (W. & A.:) herbaceous,
erect, much branched, young branches irregularly
and rather bluntly angled, with the racemes
and under side of the leaves densely pubescent; stipules
lunate, transverse, recurved: leaves oval, gla--
brous above, marked beneath with rather prominent
nerves : racemes terminal and leaf-opposed, manv-
flowered : bracteas subulate, reflexed, small : pedicels
elongated, longer than the calyx: bracteoles
very minute, setaceous, about the middle of the
pedicel: calyx smaller than the corolla, densely pubescent;
legume clavate-oblong, stalked, softly pubescent,
many-seeded.—W. and A. Prod.p. 187.
Abundant in woods and thickets about Ootacamund,
preferring a rich moist soil, and in such situations
sometimes, with the support of bushes, rising
to the height of 9 or 10 feet. It is in flower at all
seasons and is most conspicuous from the size aud
brilliancy of its flowers. As a species it is perhaps
too nearly allied to C. semperflorens.
983. Indigofera pedicellata fW. & A.:) suffru-
ticose, procumbent; branches filiform, sprinkled with
short adpressed brownish hairs; older parts terete;
young parts compressed, thickly covered with brown
glands : leaves petioled, palmately trifoliate; leaflets
cuneate-oblong; both sides with short whitish hairs
mixed on the under side with glands : racemes almost
sessile, somewhat corymbiform, about the length
of the leaves : pedicels slender, drooping, 2-3, longer
than the calyx : calyx deeply 7-cleft (segments linear
and acute), and with the vexillnm and keel hirsute
and glanduliferous.— W. and A. Prod.p. 200.
A low growing procumbent, plant frequent in dry
pastures, where it is rendered conspicuous by its
bright crimson flowers, which rise above the herbage
among which it grows and which conceals the rest of
the plaut.
981. D esmodium rufescens (DC.:) shrubby :
branches, racemes, bracteas, pedicels, stipules, petioles,
and nerves of the leaves beneath, densely clothed
with yellowish-brown tomenturn : leaves trifoliolate ;
leaflets oval, obtuse with a long bristle ; upper side
glabrous ; under densely clothed except the nerves
with adpressed silky white hairs, especially when
young : stipules caducous : racemes axillary and terminal,
many-flowered : bracteas ovate, tapering to a
long subulate point, before expansion densely imbricated,
soon caducous : vexillum large, obcordate :
ala: as long as the broad k e e l: legume pubescent,
about 7-jointed, straight on the one suture, notched
into the middle on the other. —IF. and A. Prod.
p. 228.
A low growing shrub, not unfrequent in moist
ground among brushwood. On the road side below
Coonoor on the Neilgherries, it occurs in considerable
abundance, and from that station, the specimen
from which the drawing was taken was obtained. It
is in greatest perfection during the rainy season, but
may generally be met with in flower in the neighbourhood
of springs.
985. Desmodium strangulatums (W. & A,)
herbaceous, erect?: branches hairy, somewhat 3-
angled, angles obtuse : leaves 3-foliolate, long petioled
: leaflets pubescent on both sides, lateral ones
obliquely ovate, terminal oue rhomboid : stij ules
scariose, oblong-lanceolate, coBcave, glabrous: racemes
hairy, axillary and terminal, panicled, at first
oblong and imbricated with large oblong concave
hairy bracteas, afterwards becoming very long and
lax, few-flowered: flowers 2-3 together, on long
filiform pedicels: calyx campanulate, bilabiate;
upper lip emarginate, under deeply cleft: vexillum
obovate; al® shorter than the keel: stamens mo-
nadelphows from the base to the middle, diadelphous
towards the apex: ovary stipitate, about 4-ovuled :
legume 2-3 jointed (occasionally from abortion
1-jointed), much contracted on one suture between the
joints, even on the other, hispidly pubescent; joints
semi-oblong, nearly equal at both euds.— W. and A.
Prod. p. 228. '
A slender erect growing herbaceous plant, frequenting
dark shady woods. It is at once distinguished
from all the other peninsular species of the genus, by
its deep orange coloured flowers, and the deep divisi*
ons of the legume between the seed.