132 XLVI. § PAPILIONACEE (BAKER). __ [Platysepalum. 
Corolla just as long as the calyx, yellowish. Pod 3-3} in. long, ? in. 
broad, permanently pale brown velvety. 
Lower Guinea. Angola, Golungo Alto, Dr. Welwitsch ! 
24. MICROCHARIS, Benth. in Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. 
Plant. i. 501. 
Calyx minute, with a campanulate tube and five subequal teeth. 
Standard orbicular; keel and wings with a long claw, the latter 
shortest. Upper stamen free above the middle, the others all connate; 
anthers uniform, not distinctly apiculate. Ovary sessile, linear, multi- 
ovulate, narrowed gradually into a short ascending glabrous style; 
stigma capitate. Pod sessile, linear, compressed, two-valved, thinly 
septate between the seeds.—Diffuse annuals with simple leaves and 
racemose flowers. 
Restricted to Tropical Africa, the three species very near to one another, perhaps all 
varieties of one. 
Stipules setaceous. 
Corolla 14 lines . bo eek ea ee 
prerele 2-24 lines 2. Se ee es ee 
Ppelens tolinecons ks ee ee 
1. M. tenella, Benth. in Linn. Trans. xxv. 297, t. 33 A. Stems 
diffuse, very slender, finely grey-hispid. Stipules setaceous, 1-1} lines, 
spreading, persistent. Petioles 1-14 lines. Leaves lanceolate, reach- 
ing 1-2 in. long, 3-6 lines broad, narrowed to both ends, mucronate, 
subcoriaceous, pale green, glabrescent above, obscurely grey-hisp! 
below. Flowers up to a dozen in copious, distinctly peduncled, axillary 
racemes which equal or exceed the leaves. Bracts setaceous, 4 line, 
rarely foliaceous. Pedicels patent, }—1 line. Calyx } line, densely grey- 
hispid, the lanceolate teeth exceeding the tube. Corolla bright scarlet, 
membranous, fugacious, } in. long. Pod linear, slightly recurved, 8-9 
lines long, ? line broad, 8~10-seeded. 
Upper Guinea. Nupe and banks of the Quorra at Jeba, in crevices of rocks after 
the rains, Dr. Vogel! Barter! 
2. M. angolensis, Baker. General habit of the preceding, but 
more hispid, with less numerous and more distant leaves. Stipules 
setaceous, 2 lines. Leaves narrow-lanceolate, subsessile, reaching 9-2} 
in. long, 3-4 lines broad, dull green, both sides persistently grey- 
hispid. Lower racemes reaching 3—4 in. long, including the short 
peduncles, the flowers more numerous than in the last, the bracteoles 
similar but all the lower ones barren. Calyx ? line deep, the lanceolate- 
setaceous teeth exceeding the tube. Corolla 2-24 lines. Ovary linear, 
hispid. Pod unknown. 
Lower Guinea. Pungo Andongo, Angola, Dr. Welwitsch! 
3. M. latifolia, Benth. loc. cit. General habit just as in the tw? 
others. Stipules 3~4 lines, foliaceous, ovate acuminate, deeply cordate 
