Dichrostachys. | XLVII. § MIMOSEH (OLIVER). 333 
1. D. nutans, Benth. in Hook. Journ, Bot. iv. 1842, 353. Shrub or 
small tree; extremities terete, glabrous or pubescent, usually armed 
with acute spreading axillary spines. Leaves glabrous or pubescent ; 
ae 5-10-jugate, occasionally more numerous, with a stipitate gland 
etween each pair; leatlets sessile, linear or linear-oblong, obtuse or 
broadly pointed, sometimes mucronulate, usually in from 12—22 pairs ; 
13-4 lines, rarely 5—6 lines long. Flowers in dense axillary geminate 
or solitary pedunculate obtuse spikes, together with the peduncle 143-3 
in. long ; the hermaphrodite flowers yellow, the lower neuter “ pink.” 
Bracts linear, concave or hooded above, rather shorter than the 5—6- 
nerved and -toothed calyx. Petals coherent 3 or ? of their length. 
Ovary laxly pilose, style slender, glabrous. Legume contorted, gla- 
brous or thinly pubescent, varying from }—3 in. in breadth ; valves de- 
pressed and subcoherent between the seeds.—Cuillea dichrostachys, Guill. 
et Perr. Fl. Seneg. i. 240. Mimosa bicolor, Schum. et Thonn. Guin. Pl. 
326. Desmanthus nutans, DC. Prod. ii. 446. D. trichostachys and D. 
leptostachys, DC. l.c., D. divergens, Willd., DC. l.c.; Mimosa sanguinea, 
Bruce, Trav. vii. 147. Acacia spinosa, E. Mey. Comm. PI. Afr. Austr. i. 
170 (Benth. in Hook. Journ. l.c. and Lond. Journ. Bot. v. 1846, 83.) 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone! Senegambia! Niger land! Various Collectors. 
Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper! Nubia, Speke and Grant! (A rigid divari- 
cately-branched form from a dry station.) Adir, Petherick! 
Lower Guinea. Angola, various provinces, Dr. Welwitsch! Congo, Burton! 
“ Benguela,” Curror! Var. setulosa, Welw. mss. Pinne 10-13 pairs or more, leaflets 
very small with a setulose tip, Huilla, Dr. Welwitsch ! 
South Central. Lake Ngami, J/‘Cabe! 
Mozamb. Distr. Zambesi land and Rovuma river, Dr. Kirk! Rumuma, Zan- 
guebar, Speke and Grant! 
Figured in Bruce’s Abyssinian “'l'ravels” as ‘‘ Hrgett Dimmo” (vol. vii. No. 6). 
Dichrostachys Forbesii, Benth. (l.c.), from Delagoa Bay, is nearly allied to the above, 
differing in the fewer pinne of the leaves and one or two other characters of doubtful 
constancy. 
2. D. platycarpa, Welwitsch Apont. 576. A small slender spinose 
tree of 10-15 ft. ; extremities pubescent at first. Pinnze 10—-18-jugate, 
with a stipitate gland between at least the upper pinne; leaflets as in 
D. nutans, 1-2 lines long, scarcely exceeding 3 in. in breadth. 
Spikes usually shorter than the leaves. Legume contorted, 2—4 in. 
ong, #-1} in. broad. 
Upper Guinea. Bagroo river, Mann! 
Lower Guinea. Golungo Alto, Angola, Dr. Welwitsch! 
Dr. Bolle, in Peters’ Mossamb. Bot. pp. 9, 10, cites both Dichrostachys tenuifolia, 
Benth., and D. cinerea, W. and A., as occurring in Zambesi land. The former species 
was first described from Madagascar specimens, while D. cinerea is Indian. I fear, 
however, that sufficient allowance has not been made for the great variability of D. 
nutans, and as I do not find specimens in Dr. Kirk’s rich collections which I should 
refer to either of these in preference to D. nutans, I prefer to await further information 
before admitting them. I doubt if D. nutans be really distinct from D. cinerea. 
9, NEPTUNIA, Lour.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. i. 592. 
Flowers 5-merous, capitate, sessile, the upper hermaphrodite, the 
lower neuter. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals free or cohering, “ valvate.” 
