BY R. T. BAKER. 695 



The number of flowers in the head was always below 30 in the 

 material examined, although Bentham gives the number above 30. 

 The gland is also hardly ever wanting. 



A. RUBiDA, A. Cunn. B. Fl. ii. 366. 



(Plate XXIV.) 



Bentham's description in the Flora may be supplemented a* 

 follows : — 



Sepals smooth or with a few scattered hairs, half as long as 

 the petals, usually coherent. Petals smooth or with a feAv 

 scattered hairs, sometimes slightly ribbed. 



Pod Jf to 5 inches long and .^ lines broad, slightly curved or 

 straight, valves thinly coriaceous. 



Seeds longitudinal, oblong ; funicle slightly or not at all 

 enlarged under the seed, encircling it in a double fold, and occu- 

 pyiug the space bettveen the seed and the margins of the valves. 



Hab. — Thornleigh, near Sydney (W, W. Froggatt) ; Blue 

 Mountains (Sieber) ; Hill Top, Southern Line (J. H. Maiden) ; 

 Queanbeyan (Forester Harris). 



The fruits of this species are now recorded for the first time. 

 This species is very rarely found in fruit, and plants of it have 

 been under observation for years without finding any traces of a 

 pod. I experienced great difliculty in finding satisfactory pistils 

 in the numerous flowers examined under the microscope, so perhaps 

 they may often be abortive — hence the absence of fruit. 



Bentham, in his description of this species (B. Fl. ii. 36G), 

 states that it is " allied to A. amoena and perhaps a variety." 



As the pod was unknown to him, he probably based the remark 

 on a resemblance of the flowers and phyllodia of the two species 

 to each other, but if his account of the funicle of A. amoena is 

 correct, then the two are distinct species, for the funicle in this 

 case does not surround the seed in a triple fold. 



It is very noticeable how the phyllodia and branchlets turn a 

 bright red colour when pressed. 



