Aspalathus. ] LEGUMINOS# (Harv.) 129 
vexillum thinly silky, scarcely longer than the arched-subrostrate, gla- 
brous carina ; ovary 4—ovuled, legume obliquely ovate, turgid. Benth./ 
l.c. p.657. A. versicolor, H. Mey.! Comm. p. 48. 
ane HE) near Port Elizabeth, 2. § Z. Groot Zwarteberg? Drege. (Herb. Bth., 
A much branched, divaricately flexuous and twisted, scraggy bush, with many 
short ramuli, each bearing a solitary, terminal, pale yellow flower. Leaves subdis- 
tant, about 2 lines long, patent and pungent. Flowers on very short pedicels. Ca- 
lyx-teeth attenuated from a deltoid base. 
98. A. aciphylla (Harv.); branches tomentulose ; leaves tufted, subu- 
late, aristato-pungent, glabrous; flowers 2-4 together, or solitary, ses- 
sile ; calyx fleshy, glabrous, its lobes ovato-subulate, pungent-acumi- 
nate, equalling or exceeding the wide tube ; petals glabrous, subequal, 
the carina arched, obtuse ; ovary 6-ovuled; bracts ovate, keeled, pun- 
gent. A. abietina, H. Mey. Comm. p. 48. Benth. l. c.p. 637. 
Var. 8. nana; very dwarf; leaves densely crowded, subulate, taper-pointed, and 
pungent-mucronate, squarrose ; flowers 1-2 terminal, depauperated. A. batodes, 
E. § Z. 1455. 
Has. Grootzwarteberg and the Krom Riv., Drege. Zwarteberg (but probably | 
from higher, drier, and more rocky ground) Eckion and Zeyher. (Herb. Bth., Sd.) 
A rigid, much branched, robust bush, well covered with twigs and leaves. Leaves 
very patent, unequal in the same tuft, 3-4-5 lines long. Flowers either solitary in 
lateral tufts,or more frequently subcapitate at the ends of the branches. 
99, A. arida (E. Mey.! Linn. 7. p.156); quite glabrous or thinly 
and minutely downy ; leaves tufted, linear-terete, blunt or mucronulate ; 
flowers solitary, shortly pedicellate (very variable in size); calyx widely 
eampanulate, glabrous, carnose, the lobes from a very broad, ovate base, — 
acuminate, as long or twice as long as the tube ; petals glabrous, broad, 
nearly equally long; ovary 2—-ovuled; legume obli uely rhombic-ovate, 
enclosed in the marcescent and enlarged corolla. . Lc. p. 638. 
Var. a erecta; unarmed ; stem and branches erect, slender, elongate ; leaves 
shorter and flowers smaller, 2-4 lines long; calyx-lobes more sudulate and often 
shorter than the tube, 4. pinguis, H. § Z./ 1487. Zey.! 420. 
Var. 8. procumbens; rigid, procumbent, much branched, the branches spine-tipped ; 
leaves longer, flowers larger, 4~5 lines long, with lanceolate bracts ; calyx-lobes more 
© ovato-lanceolate, overlapping at edges. A. arida, E£. § Z. 1485. A. spinescens, DC.? 
- War. y. grandiflora; erect, unarmed ; leaves thicker, carnose ; flowers * 
5-8 lines long; calyx-lobes ovate-acwminate, much longer than the tube, their edges oe 
strongly imbricating ; bracts lanceolate. Zeyher, 2355. 
throughout the Western Districts. Var. y. Howhoek Pass, Zeyher ; also in Forsyth’s 
and Bowie's Coll. (Herb. Bth., Hb., D., Sd.) ig Wik, 4 
An extremely variable plant, especially in the size of the flowers, which in var-Qus.. 
grandiflora are sometimes 8 lines long, while in the smallest varieties they are 
scarcely 2 lines, The calyx varies with the size of the flowers, its lobes passing from Qy/)y 
subulate to broadly ovate. But between these extreme forms a gradation 1" 
may be established, and though our three varieties are very distinct in their typical = 
condition, the limits are indefinable. 
_ 100. A. pachyloba (Benth. 1. c. p. 638); branches thick, densely to- _ 
mentose; leaves tufted, short, fleshy, linear-terete, very obtuse or mu- 
cronulate, rarely subacute, glabrous; flowers solitary, latera 
calyx carnose, glabrous or pubescent, its segments lane 
Voto He 
Has. Common on the Capetown hills snd by road sides in dry places ; also sas . 
oly 
allan 
