AFRICAN SPECIES OF CROTALARIA. 249 
inflated or tumid, and the valves are quite thin and membranous, I would 
exclude this species. 
Another doubtful plant is the 
lenticula by E. Meyer. 
flowers opposite the leaves, and a distinctly rostrate carina ; the four upper 
lobes of the calyx are not connate in two pairs, and the lowest lobe is 
When describing this species E. Meyer 
species originally described as Crotalaria 
This is an interesting little plant, with solitary 
distinctly narrower than the rest. 
added the following note :—* Legumen magis compressum quam ullius alius 
Crotalarize mihi note sed carina angulo fere recto longe rostrata una cum 
staminibus monadelphis aut Crotalariis inserere aut peculiare genus condere 
Bentham, however, transferred it to the genus Lotononis pre- 
sumably on account of the somewhat compressed pods, and I have followed 
has affinity 
The exact 
They may, 
cogunt.” 
him in considering it a species of this venus, but it certainly 
with C. sparsiflora, E. Mey., which I am retaining in Crotalaria. 
limits between Crotalaria and Lotononis are difficult to define. 
perhaps, be best summarised as follows .— 
Crotalaria. 
Calyx-lobes free or sometimes subbilabiate, 
the upper lip bifid, the lower trifid, 
rarely four upper lobes connate in two 
pairs, 
Lotononis. 
Calyx subunequally 5-fid, the lowest lobe 
narrower than the rest, the four upper 
lobes approaching in pairs, rarely quite 
separate. 
Carina obtuse or acute. 
Inflorescence various, racemose, umbellate, 
capitate, or with solitary flowers. 
Pod oblong or linear, more or less com- 
pressed, 
Carina rostrate, very rarely obtuse. 
. | 
Inflorescence various, | 
| 
Pod turgid, of various shapes. 
Besides Lotononis lenticula, Benth. (Crotalaria lenticula, E. Mey.), the 
following plants have a rostrate carina, but the pod of those in which the 
fruit is known is not as inflated as is usual in Crotalaria, or the inflorescence 
is not satisfactory for this genus. I have therefore decided not to include 
the following :— Lotononis perplexa, Eckl. & Zeyh. (Crotalaria perplexa, 
E. Mey.), Lotononis micrantha, Bentham (Crotalaria micrantha, E. Mey.), 
Lotononis acutiflora, Benth. (Crotalaria quinata, E. Mey.), Lotononis nama- 
quensis, Dolus, Lotononis arenicola, Schlechter. 
MATERIAL. 
The work on this paper has principally been done at the National 
Herbarium at South Kensington, with which I am officially connected ; 
but I have paid frequent visits to the Kew Herbarium, and I have to thank 
Sir David Prain, F.R.S., and Dr. Stapf, F.R.S., for permission to work 
there. Thanks to the courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum, I had 
the opportunity of working at the Herbaria at Berlin, Brussels, and Paris, 
