Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/384

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ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY, (Pisum sativum) the bean ( Faba vulgaris ) the tare or horse pea ( Ficia sativa J the chick [ ea, Bsngalor Chinna gram of this country, ( Cicer arietinmn J and the lintel Eevum lens, all of them being extensively employed as food for both man and cat lie. The seed of some other species are considered poisonous, the seed of the bitter vetch ( Ervum ervillia, D.C J when mixed with flour and made into bread are said to produce weakness of the limbs, and horses fed on them become almost paralytic. The ripe seeds of the yellow vetchling ( Lathyrus aphaca J are narcotic, producing intense headache if eaten abundantly, but when young like green peas, are harmless. The leaves of Cicer arietinmn secrete an acid which the natives of India collect by spreading a cloth over-night on the plant and wringing out the dew in the morning. They then use it as vinegar, or for forming a cooling drink.

Tribe 5. Phaskolk^— Corolla papilionacious. Stamens monadelphous or more usually diadelphous (9 and 1.) Legume several seeded, dehiscent, continuous, often with cellular rarely with coriaceous transverse partitions between the seed, not separating into joints. Radi- cle bent along the edge of the cotyledons. Cotyledons thick, unchanged by germination. Leaves usually trifoliolate, very rarely abruptly pinnated : primordial ones opposite.

This is a large tribe abounding in genera, many of which are extensively used as food, but more especially Phaseolus, Dolichos and Lablab (the old Dolichos lablab). Besides these many others are employed either for food or medicine and a few in the arts. The roots of the Coon- doomunny Abras precatorius a common plant in this country, the beautiful black tipped bright red seeds of which are so generally admired, are sweet, resembling liquorice, for which they are used as a substitute, and an infusion of them prescribed as a diluent drink. The seed are in ge- neral use by native jewellers as a weight, and almost uniformly weigh exactly one grain troy. The young legumes as well as the seed of many species of Phaseolus or kidney bean are used as culinary vegetables ; among these are the French bean, the Haricot, our Duffin bean, ( Phaseolus lu- natu» J as fodder, those of P. aeon itif alius, P. trilobus and radiatus, are cultivated by the natives: the pease are used by them as food, and also given to their Cattle as gram, the last of these, and I believe P. mungo are indiscriminately used under the English name of " green-gram :" several species of Dolichos are also in use, but the best known of these is the common horse-gram or coultie ( D. unijlorus J so extensively cultivated in this country.

Lablab vulgaris or avaraykai {Dolichos lablab, Lin. and Ainslie) is a very valuable pulse, and very generally much esteemed by all classes of natives who eat it, when young, pod and all as we do French beans, and when more advanced the beans ordy. In Mysore it is very extensively cul- tivated, fields on fields being seen covered with it towards the end of the year. The curiously- winged pods of Psophocarpus (Dolichos) fetragonolobui or Goa bean, (as it is called here) also afford a pass- able vegetable, so does the Sabre bean ( Canavalia gladiata J the pods of which are sometimes 18 inches long. Mucuna pruriens and M. prurita both afford the well known Cowitch formerly not unfrequently used as an anthelmintic, another nearly allied species, the pods of which are unarmed with the stinging pickles of the last, and of the genus generally, is cultivated to a great extent in the Mauritius and Van Deman's land as a table vegetable, and also as fodder for cattle under the name of Pois noire or black bean. The pigeon pea or Doll ( Cajanus indicus or Cytisus cajan J is very generally cultivated as a pulse in this country, and is highly esteemed by the natives. These are all herbaceous annuals or biennials ; but the beautiful flowered Erythrina indica, so conspicuous on account of its bright scarlet flowers, attains the size of a large tree, the light and soft wood of which is well known under the name of Mootchee wood, from being so much used by these toy makers, it is also generally used for constructing Catamarans, and the tree itself is employed as a prop for pepper vines.

Tribe 7. Dalbergie^e — Stamens variously combined. Legume one or several seeded, indehiscent. Cotyledons fleshy. Trees or shrubs, often twining. Leaves unequally pinnated, rarely trifoliolate, or reduced to a solitary leaflet.

In its properties this tribe is very different from the preceding. Here we find some of the largest trees, possessing wood of the hardest and most durable description, while others again, of the same genera, are twining shrubs, some of them most ornamental on account of the endless profusion of their beautiful white flowers, which contrast very favourably with their dark green foliage : among the most ornamental perhaps of the whole are the splendid Buteas —