Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 1).djvu/487

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N. O.LEGUMINOSÆ.
407


A biennial herb. Stem much taller than that of M. parviflora, Desf. Stipules linear, acuminate. Leaves, with toothed pinnately 3-foliate leaflets. Leaflets obovate or oblanceolate, retuse or emarginate. Racemes denser and not quite so long as M. parviflora. Calyx 1/12in. Corolla linear, yellow, odorous, usually three times as long as Calyx. Standard the same length as the wings and keel. Pod distinctly stipitate, hairy, 1/16in. long, 1-2-seeded ; not obtuse.

Use:— Said to possess styptic properties, also employed in bruises (Watt.).

349. Cyamopsis psoralioides, D.C, h. f. b. i., ii. 92.

Syn. : — Dolichos fabæformis, Willd., Roxb. 564.

Vern. : — Gowâr (H.) ; Kauri, phaliguar (Pb.) ; gawar or Godi bavachi (Bomb.) ; Buru raher (Santal).

Habitat : — Plains from the Himalaya to the Western Peninsula. Cultivated in Bombay, Surat, Ahmedabad, Deccan.

A robust, erect annual, 2-3 ft. high, clothed with adpressed grey hairs attached by the middle. Leaves 3-foliate. Leaflets l½-3 by ½-2in., elliptic, acute, sharply dentate (the teeth generally ending in a weak spine, clothed on both sides with adpressed medifixed hairs, base acute ; main nerves prominent. Petiolules of the lateral leaflets 1/8 in., those of the terminal ones 1/4-½in. long. Petioles 1-1½ in. long, sparsely hairy. Stipules l/4-3/8in. long, linear setaceous, subulate persistent. Flowers small, 6-30in. copious, close, short-peduncled, axillary, close racemes ; pedicels short, hairy ; bracts linear-subulate, persistent, 3/16 in. long. Calyx hairy outside, 1-1/4 in. long to the extremity of the longest tooth ; teeth very unequal, the lowest two the longest linear-subulate, the upper 3 shorter, triangular, acute. Coralla slightly longer than the Calyx ; standard slightly orbicular. Anthers uniform, apiculate. Ovary sessile ; many-ovulate ; style incurved at apex ; stigma capitate. Pod thick, fleshy, straight, sub-tetragonal, 1½-2in. long, slightly pubescent. Seeds 5-6, square, slightly compressed.