the Decandrous Papilionaceous Plants of New Holland. 2G5 



pale at the base. Germen bristly. Style so recurved as almost 

 to form a circle, not straight at the base, and then suddenly 

 hooked, as in the genuine Dillwynia. Stigma capitate, downy. 

 I have not seen the fruit. It is to be suspected the legume may 

 prove different from that of a Dillwy?iia, and in conjunction with 

 the peculiarity above mentioned in the style, as well as in the 

 habit, may establish this plant as a new genus. Its leaves and 

 stipulas approach those of a Chorozema. 



9. Mirbelia. Annals of Bot. v. 1. 511. 



Calyx quinquefidus, bilabiatus. Corolla papilionacea. Stylus 

 recurvus, basi crassissimus, germine brevior. Stigma capita- 

 turn. Legumen ventricosum, biloculare ! dispermum. 



1. M. reticulata. Ann. of Bot. v. 1. 511. Ventenat Malmais. tf. 119. 

 Pultenaea rubiaefolia. Andr. Repos. t. 351. 



This, the only species hitherto discovered of its genus, has a 

 much-branched spreading stem, opposite or ternate leaves about 

 an inch long, and neatly reticulated. Its blueish flowers, grow- 

 ing in short axillary clusters, are no less peculiar in this tribe. 

 But, above all, the essential generic character of the 2-celled 

 legume is remarkable. These cells are formed, as M. Ventenat 

 has recently observed, by membranous partitions, equally ori- 

 ginating from each suture, and not, as in Astragalus, by an im- 

 perfect extension of one suture only. Nevertheless, even Mir- 

 belia forms no exception to the rule that a legumen has never any 

 separate and distinct longitudinal partition, like that of a siliqua: 

 from which such spurious partitions, produced by the inflexion 

 of the valves, are materially different, as the celebrated Jussieu 

 has shown in the characters of his Rkodoracea and Ericinea. See 



Annals of Bot. v. 2. 56l. 



VQU IX. 2 m 10. Cal- 



