Melolobium. | LEGUMINOS (Harv.) 79 
A rigid, spreading or depressed, spiny bush, laxly or densely branched : all the 
younger branches canescent. Leaflets narrow-obovate, obtuse, folded together when 
dry, 2-3 lines long. Flowers 2-3 sub-sessile, near the base of rigid, spine-tipped 
ramuli. The calyces are sometimes viscidulous. Legumes 93-inch long, sub-moni- 
liform, pointed, nearly straight. 
3. M. canescens (Benth.! 1. ¢. p. 351); divaricately much-branched, 
scarcely glandular, spiny; twigs velvetty-canescent; leaflets glabres- 
cent; stipules and bracts semi-cordate, small ; legume falcate-curved, 
4-6 seeded, silky-canescent, as well as the calyx. Sphingium canescens, 
L. Mey. ! Comm. p. 67. 
Has, Rhinoster Kop, Drege? Gamke River, Burke. (Herb. Hk., Bth., Sd.) 
So like M. candicans, that, except by its sickle-shaped pods, it can scarcely be 
distinguished. 
4, M. microphyllum (EF. & Z.! 1324); divaricately much-branched 
or decumbent, spiny, glandular-sub-viscid, scabrous or pubescent-hairy ; 
stipules and bracts cordate-ovate, small ; legume incurved or arched, 2-4 
seeded, glandularly scabrid, either hispid or glabrescent. Benth. /l. c. p. 
351. Ononris microphylla, Thunb. ! Fl. Cap. p. 585. Dichilus microphyllus, 
E. Mey.! Linn. 7. p. 155. Sphingium microphyllum, E. Mey.! Comm. p. 67. 
Var. a. Thunbergii; dwarf, very spiny, glabrescent ; legume slightly curved, 2-4 
seeded. MM. microphyllum, Benth. l. c. 
Var. 8. collinum; lax, less spiny, glabrescent ; legume arched, 4-6 seeded, hispid 
M. collinum, E. & Z. 1326. Benth. l. ec. Trigonella armata, Thunb. / and T. villosa, 
subinermis, tenwior. 
Var. y. lampolobum ; legume arched, 4-6 seeded, shining. Sphingiwn lampolo- 
bum, E. Mey.! Comm. p. 66. ; 
Var. 8. decumbens ; densely pubescent-hairy in all ; legume sub-curved or 
falcate, 2~3 seeded, glandular-hispid or scabrous. M. Benth. ! t. c. Sphin- 
gium decumbens, E. Mey. Comm. p. 67. 
Has. Eastern and north-eastern districts, and Caffraria. Thunb., E & Z7., Drege. 
B. Gauritz R., B. ¢ Z. y. Kendo, Drege. 5. Sneeuberg, and near Graaf Reynet, 
Drege. Somerset, Dr. Atherstone. Near Orange and Caledon River, Burke. Zooloo 
Country, Miss Owen. Namaqualand, Wyley. (Herb. Th., Bth., Hk., Sd., dD) 
A dwarf, thorny, depressed or spreading glandular and viscidulous bush, varying 
in pubescence and number of spines, but the varieties indicated seem to run into one 
another, and all are from the same districts. Leaflets 1-2 lines long, cuneate or 
obovate. Flowers small, cernuous, pedicels 1-2 lines long. 
5. M. adenodes (E. & Z. ! 1327); suffruticose, scarcely spinous, rough 
in all parts with stipitate glands, glabrescent ; leaflets linear-oblong ; sti- 
pules semi-cordate-acuminate ; flowers in a lax pseudo-spike, the rachis 
rigid and at length spinescent ; bracts lanceolate, nearly equalling the 
calyx ; legumearched,4—5 seeded, glandularand hispidulous. Benth.l.c.p. 
35 Qe » 
Has. Cape District, at Berg River and Zwartland, F. ¢ Z. erb. Sd., D.) 
A rigid, ae team erect, scabrous suffrutex, i etna igs ; the slightly 
divided branches and the naked, barren tips of the flowering ramuli, ing and ~ 
sub-pungent. Leaflets 3-4 lines long, 1-line wide, obtuse. Legumes falcate, 8-9 
lines long. Known from M. cernuwm, by the stalked glands that roughen stem, — 
branches, leaflets, and legumes. fs ee 
6. M. humile (E. & Z.! 1330); suffruticose, scarcely spinous, much- 
branched ; branches and twigs appressedly silky, sub-canescent ; petioles, 
leaflets, bracts, and calyx rough with stimtate glands + leaflets obovate- 
