260 Dr. Smith's Specific Characters of 



are fringed at their sides precisely in the same manner. Their 

 edges seem to be deeply coloured with red or purple. 



*10. J>. jwicea, caule aphyllo tereti suleato nudo, umbellis la* 

 teralibus, calyce bracteisque imberbibus. 



Related to the last in habit, but very distinct. The adult 

 stem is leafless, much and alternately branched, rushy, round, 

 longitudinally furrowed, roughish to the touch. Umbels from a 

 few lateral buds towards the ends of the branches, solitary, sim- 

 ple, nearly sessile, each of about 4 flowers. Bracteas remark- 

 ably concave, pale brown, ribbed or furrowed; the uppermost 

 largest, the lower ones closely imbricated ; all destitute of a 

 marginal fringe. Calyx nearly regular, with 5 short teeth, whose 

 edges, seen under a microscope, are finely downy, but not jag- 

 ged nor fringed. This was discovered at King George's Sound 

 by Mr. Menzies. The colour of the petals in these two last spe- 

 cies seems nearly to accord with all the foregoing. 



It cannot but be very satisfactory to the author of any genus 

 to find it confirmed by the acquisition of new species, especially 

 when its name commemorates a meritorious friend. Five hither- 

 to unknown species of Daviesia are here added to the original 

 five whence the characters were taken, and they all together 

 form a most natural assemblage. Linnaeus observes, Philos. Bot. 

 sect. 170, " raro observatur genus in quo pars aliqua fructifica- 

 " tionis non aberrat." Of this the calyx in the genus before us 

 affords a striking exemplification, being in several species deep- 

 ly and equally five-toothed, and almost perfectly regular; in 

 others as distinctly 2-lipped, the upper lip singularly truncated, 

 and either cloven with a rounded sinus, or only slightly emargi- 

 nate. These differences occur in species otherwise most akin to 

 ^ach other. 



6. Vim i- 



