EOBINSON. — SPECIES OF NEPTUNIA. 333 



* * Heads considerably smaller, ovoid, about 20-flowered; the lowest flowers often 

 with yellow petaloid filaments : bracts ovate, acuminate. 



■*- Bracts and calyx-lobes ciliolate. • 



N. pubescens, Bentii. Habitally similar to the precediug, finely 

 piibesceut or at length only glandular-roughened : pinnae only 2 or 3 

 pairs but leaflets more numerous (15 to 35 pairs), ciliolate upon the 

 margin but not otherwise pubescent ; stipules larger than in the preced- 

 ing species, ovate, acuminate, yellowish-brown or greenish : legumes 

 rather short and broad (about 10 mm. in breadth), 3-8-seeded, more 

 or less pubescent ; the stipe only a line or two in length. — Beuth. in 

 Hook. Jour. Bot. iv. 356, & Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 384 (excl. pi. of 

 Florida and perhaps of W. Ind.) ; Coult. 1. c. JV. lufea, Torr. Bot. Mex. 

 Bound. 60. in part, ace. to Wats. Bibl. Index, 244. — S. and W. Texas, 

 from Corpus Christi Bay, Palmer, to Eagle Pass, JIavard, and perhaps 

 farther westward, Wright, (Mex., W. Ind.). This of all our plants 

 appears to correspond most closely to specimens from Peru whence the 

 species was originally described. 



N. Liindheimeri. Diffusely branched from a lignescent base, con- 

 spicuously and i^ersistently pubescent : pinnae 3 to 5 pairs ; leaflets 15 

 to 30 pairs, strongly ciliated on the margin and also pubescent upon the 

 lower surface, especially near the apex ; stipules, bracts, and even the 

 calyx-lobes conspicuously ciliated : fruiting peduncles 2.5 to 6.5 cm. 

 long : pods regularly oblong, cuneate at the base, 2.5 to 3.8 cm. long, 

 8 mm. broad, more or less pubescent even in age, 3-10-seeded ; stipe 

 about 4 mm. long. — N. lutea, Heller, Contrib. Herb. Frankl. & Marsh. 

 Coll. i. 45, not Benth. — Prairies of Texas, about Houston, Lindheimer, 

 June, 1843, Texas without locality, Wright, and near Corpus Christi, 

 Heller, no. 1822. 



M- t- Bracts and calyx-lobes not ciliolate. 



N. floridana. Small. Very slender and apparently very sensi- 

 tive : stems branched, 6 dm. or more long, prostrate, glabrous : pinnae 

 3 to 4 pairs ; leaflets numerous (15 to more often) 20 to 40 pairs, cilio- 

 late but not otherwise- pubescent: peduncles long, at anthesis often 

 hooked at the apex, in fruit 7.5 to 10 cm. in length : bracts and calyx- 

 teeth quite devoid of ciliation : pods about 3.2 cm. long, 6 mm. broad, 

 sparingly pubescent when young, soon glabrate, 7-9 seeded ; stipe 2 to 

 6 mm. in length. — Bull. Torr. Club, xxv. 138. N. piihescens, 'Rewih. 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 384, in part (as to pi. Rugel). N. lutea, Chapm. 

 Fl. ed. 1 & 2, 117, at least in part, not Benth. Acacia lutea, Torr. & 

 Gray, Fl. i. 403, as to pi. from Florida. Desmanthus luteus, Chapm. 



