in botany; a genus of the decandria order, belonging to the diadelphia class of plants. There are four species, all of them herbaceous perennials, or annuals, of the kidney-bean kind, growing naturally in both the Indies. The stalk is climbing, slender, and of the height of a man. The leaves are winged, placed alternately, and consist of two, three, or five pair of lobes, terminated by an odd one. The flowers, which are elegant, stand singly, each on its proper foot-stalk. They are very large, and generally of a deep blue, but sometimes of a white colour. From the fruit of this plant is distilled an eye-water. The beans reduced to powder, and taken in broth, to the quantity of two drachms, prove a gentle purge; and Grinnius remarks, in his Labor Exil., that the powder of the dried beans, being mixed with the milk of the cocoa nut, or with broth, and administered in quantity from one to three drachms, not only mitigates colic pains, but is very useful, and much used in Ceylon, in all disorders of the stomach and bowels. These plants are propagated by seeds; and, in this country, must be kept continually in a stove.