A TRIBE OF LEGUMINOSZ. 3 
not been made at the time of gathering, but added later—either 
in the course of drying, or at the time of packing up, when the 
recollection of the circumstances noted, of origin, habit, colour, 
&c., had become more or less dimmed or confused,—especially 
when a great variety of specimens had been gathered in one 
herborization. 
Even now, whilst revising the same tribe after an interval of 
twenty-two years for the purpose of editing the Leguminose of 
Martius’s ‘ Flora Brasiliensis, although I have certainly had at 
my disposal a richer collection than had ever been gathered toge- 
ther in one place, and although I had in the meantime collected a 
considerable number of notes in the herbaria of Paris, Geneva, and 
others, still I have in many cases experienced much difficulty from 
the insufficiency of specimens, and many points remain involved in 
doubt and obscurity. As far, however, as my materials allowed, I 
have, in a forthcoming part of that ‘ Flora,’ fully described all the 
Brazilian genera and species ; an operation, which has obliged me 
to examine in detail all the species I could procure from the whole 
of tropical America, and to compare them carefully with the newest 
corresponding forms in tropical Africa and Asia. It then occurred 
to me that it might be interesting to the Linnean Society to 
communicate the result of that examination of such new or little- 
known genera and species as are not included in the Brazilian 
Flora, as well as to record a few general observations which the 
form and limits of that work prevented my entering into on that 
Occasion. I have thus been led on to draw up a synopsis of the 
whole tribe, with short characters of all the species known to me, 
referring for more complete descriptions to the above-mentioned 
Brazilian Flora, or to other works quoted, for the published species, 
and entering into afew further details, only in the case of the non- 
Brazilian species here published as new. | 
The tribe of Dalbergiee is on the whole a natural one, but, like 
all others of the Papilionaceous suborder, very diffieult to define 
precisely. In general it is distinguished from Phascolee by the 
arborescent or tall, woody,eclimbing stem, pinnate leaves, and in- 
dehiscent pod, and from the arborescent Galegee (Robinia and 
their allies), by the indehiscent pod, and, it has been said, also by 
the cotyledons which, during germination, are believed not to be 
developed into true seed-leaves, furnished with stomata. The 
latter character, however, if correct, is not available, and I cannot 
ascertain that it has been verified in a single species, and to the 
others there are occasional exceptions, each of which must be 
B2 
