Elephantorhiza.] LEGUMINOS& (Harv.) orf s 
fect in diameter. Prickles few or many. Petioles 4-6 inches long, bare in the lower — 
half ; leaflets 4-5 lines long, 14-2 lines wide, pale beneath. Spikes chiefly toward 
the ends of the branches, pedunculate, closely-flowered, 2-24 inches long. Unripe 
legume subfalcate, glabrous, shining, 5-6 pe bs long, nearly an inch broad, many- 
seeded, jointed between the seeds. i 
3, E.? Wahlbergii (Harv.); unarmed, slender, scandent; twigs and 
petioles glabrous ; pinne in two, distant pair ; leaflets in 7-10-pair, ob- 
liquely falcate-oblong, obtuse, glabrous, paler beneath, mucronulate ; 
spikes axillary, solitary, shortly pedunculate ; flowers pedicellate ; legumes q 
Has. South Africa, Wahlberg ! (Herb. Holm.) 
Whole plant glabrous. Twigs striate, brownish, flexuous. Petioles 24 inches long, 
ending in a short, cirrhulous point, reflexed. Pinne in two pairs, 1} inch asunder, 
with longish petiolules. Leaflets 4-6 lines long, 1-1} line broad, unequal-sided, 
scarcely curved, the edges inclining to be revolute. Spikes racemulose, 2-24 inches 
long, on peduncles 4 inch long. Pedicels of the flowers } line long or more. Calyx 
cupshaped, sharply 5-toothed. Petals reflexed. Anthers tipped with a stalked, deci- 
duous gland. Legumes unknown. In many respects this resembles a W. African 
species, (Barter, 991 in Herb. Hooker) with broadly falcate, many-seeded, crenate 
pods. Possibly these plants, from opposite sides of the continent, may be identical, 
but it would be hardly safe to pronounce them so till the fruit of our present plant 
' be ascertained. 
LXXVII. ELEPHANTORHIZA, Benth. 
Flowers shortly pedicellate. Calysx short, 5-toothed. Petals lanceolate, 
at length free. Stamens 10; anther tipped with a deciduous, stalked 
land. Legume straight, compressed, coriaceous, the sutures remaining 
closed, but the long-persisting, rigid valves separating (as in a siliqua), 
without transverse septa, and not pulpy within. : 
_ Small, glabrous suffrutices, with large, thick roots ; the “ Elandsbontjes” of the 
colonists. Leaves bipinnate, multi-jugate. Flowers densely spicato-racemose. The 
name signifies ‘‘ Llephant’s-root.” terre fc 
ANALYSIS OF THE SPECIES. ee 
Leaflets very narrow-linear, sharply mucronate —..._ (1) Burchellii. 
Leaflets broadly-linear, blunt... — -- ses ... (2) Burkei. 
1. E. Burehellii (Benth. ! in Hook. Journ. Bot. 4, p. 344) leaflets 
narrow-linear, very oblique, rigid, subacute, sharply mucronate ; racemes 
dense, the pedicels shorter than the calyx; legume smooth or somewhat 
rugulose. Acacia elephantina, Burch. Trav. 2, p. 2 36, A. elephantorluza, 
DC. Prod. 2, 457. Prosopis elephantorhiza, Spreng. E. & Z.! 1693. P. 
elephantina, E. Mey.! Comm. p. 195. ; 
Has. Very common in grassy places between the Klipplaat and Zwartkey Rivers, 
Bo. Lb ZI Drege! Caledon R., Burke $ Zeyher! Zooloo Country, Miss Owen ! Cra- 
dock and Queenstown Districts, Mrs. P. W. Barber ! (Herb. Hk., D., Sd.) 
_ Root very — thick, creeping. Stems 1-2 feet high, suberect, quite glabrous, 
densely leafy. Leaves 6—12 inches long, 6-12-jugate ; leafiets multi-jugate, 5 lines 
Jong, not 1 line wide, slightly narrowed at base, bright green. Racemes from the 
_ axils of the lower leaves, subsessile, 2-3 inches long. Legumes 6-7 inches long, 1 
wide. Mrs. Barber says, “all grazing animals, wild and domestic, are exceeding 
fond of this plant. It has long, succulent roots and an underground stem._ Tt does 
not shoot until rather late in the summer, seldom before December, and its stems are 
killed again by the first frosts of May. The seed-pods are still green when the frost — 
comes, and the seeds not ripe, but they are so well protected by the strong, leather- 
like pod, that the frost cannot hurt them, and they ripen in the pod long after the 
stem that bore them has been killed by the frost. ‘The roots are used for tanning 
leather.” — we 
