The New International Encyclopædia/Crotalaria

CROT'ALA'RIA (Neo-Lat. nom. pl., from Gk. κρόταλον, krotalon, rattle). A genus of plants of the natural order Leguminosæ, deriving its name from the inflated pods in which the seeds rattle when ripe. The species are numerous; annual, perennial, and shrubby plants, natives of the temperate and tropical parts of the world. Many of them have long, straight, slender stems and branches, and some of these yield valuable fibre, particularly the Sunn (q.v.), or Sunn hemp of India, Crotalaria juncea, an annual species, the fibre of which is now an important article of commerce. Jubbulpore hemp, also an important fibre, and regarded as stronger than Sunn, is the produce of Crotalaria tenuifolia, usually considered a variety of Crotalaria juncea, a perennial species about nine feet high, a native of the south of India, which, when growing in abundant space, throws out many branches; but when sown thick, grows with little branching. Crotalaria burhia, which naturally grows in very arid places, is also cultivated in Sinde for its fibre. There are a dozen species native of the United States, one of which, Crotalaria sagittalis, and perhaps others, are reputed to be injurious to horses, causing what is termed ‘crotalism,’ a disease something like loco (q.v.).