DOL'ICHOS, a genus of plants of the natural order leguminosa, sub-order papilionacea, closely allied to phaseolus (see KIDNEY BEAN), and chiefly distinguished by the exten sion of the base of the standard so as to embrace the wings of the corolla at their base. The genus includes a considerable number of species, some of them shrubby, some annual, and some perennial herbaceous plants. Some of them have beautiful flowers, and some of the herbaceous species are cultivated on account of their seeds, which afford a kind of pulse; or of their young pods, which, like those of the kidney bean, are boiled for the table. Among these are D. lablab, a native of India and Egypt (which has been made the type of a separate genus, lablab); D. Nankinicus (or lablab Nankinicus) a Chinese species; D. lubia, a native of Egypt; D. sesquipedalis, a native of America; D. soya or soja hispida (the soy bean), D. catiang, and D. uniflorus (horse gram), natives of India; D. sphaerospermus (calavana or black-eyed pea), a native of the West Indies. In the climate of Britain, even the most hardy kinds require the aid of a little artificial beat, and they are reckoned inferior to other kinds of pulse or garden vegetables of easier cultivation. The well-known Chinese sauce or ketchup called soy (q.v.) is made from
the soy bean. Allied to D. is the genus canaralia, to which belong the SWORD BEANS of India. C. gladiator, the commonly cultivated species, has pods 2 ft. long. Another allied genius is psophocarpus. The seeds of p. tetragonolobus, formerly D. tetragonolobus, are used in the Mauritius as peas are in Britain; and its pods and tuberous roots are common Indian esculents. Some species of pachyrhizus, also an allied genus, are remark able for their tuberous roots, as p. angulatus (formerly D. bulbosus), a native of India, now cultivated in South America and other warm countries, which produces pleasant turnip-like tubers; and P. trilobus, which has tubers 2 ft. long and nearly cylindrical, much used as a boiled vegetable in China and Cochin-China.