Botanical Magazine 106 - 1880.pdf - hibiscus.org

TAB. 6506.
INDIGOFERA ANIL.
Native of the West Indies.
Nat. Ord. LEGUMINOSA.•Tribe GALEGEA.
Genus INDIGOFEBA, Linn.; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Fiant, vol. i. p. 494.)
INDIGOFEBA (Euindigofera) Anil; suffrutescens, cano-puberula, foliis pinnatis,
pinnis 3-7-jugis oppositis oblongis ellipticis obovatis v. lineari- v. obovato-
oblongis obtusis v. retusis, stipulis subulatis, racemis subsessilibus erectis
stiictis folio brevioribus, calycis lobis triangularibus, vexillo parvo rotundato,
alis an guste oblongis obtusis carinam •quantibus, legumine lineari-oblongo
arcuato-recurvo rostrato obtuse 4-goni Isevi 6-10-spermo sutura dorsali
incrassato.
I. Anil, Linn. Mant. p. 272 ; Sloane, Hist. Jam. t. 179, f. 2 ; Lamk. Encyel.
t. 626; Diet. Sc. Nat. t. 252; Tratt. Archiv, t. 72; Tussac. Fl. An'tilJ.
t. 72; DC. Frodr. vol. ii. p. 225, excl. var. y ; Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Lnd.
p. 181 ; Benth. in Mart. Fl. Bras. Legum. p. 40.
I. uncinata, G. Don Gard. Diet. vol. ii. p. 208.
I. micrantha, Desv. in Ann. Se. Nat. Ser. i. vol. ix. p. 410.
This, the indigenous Indigo of the West Indies, is the
representative of the I. tinctoria or Indigo of the Old World ;
but both of these plants having been cultivated for some
centuries for the extraction of the well-known dye, are now
naturalized in the tropics of the Old and the New World.
Of the two species, I. tinctoria was known for its product
from very early times, being in use by the Egyptians and
described by Dioscorides; whereas the I. Anil could not have
been known in Europe or the East until after the discovery
of America. An Indigo appears, however, to have been
used by the natives of the New World before it was brought
into competition with the plant of the Old; for Sloane
(Hist. Jam. vol. ii. p. 37) says, " Robt. Tomson ap. Hakl.
p. 454, found it about Mexico, where it is used to die blue."
It is, however, very doubtful if the plant here alluded to be
the Indlgofera Anil. It is a somewhat singular fact that
although the Indlgofera tinctoria has been for so many centu-
ries the only Indigo-plant known in the Old World, the first
species recognized by botanists was the West Indian /. Anil.
JULY 1ST, 1880.