BY J. H. MAIDEIi AND E. BETCHE. 739 



A very handsome tall climber, with stems fully 1 inch in 

 diameter. The largest leaves in our specimens are 4 J inches long 

 by 3J inches wide; the flowers are about J to | of an inch long, 

 and of a rich purple colour, drjang to a pure mauve. 



Bentham describes the plant in the ' Flora Australiensis ' as 

 prostrate, but this is doubtless a mistake caused by imperfect 

 notes. Major Mitchell writes in his ' Journal of an Expedi- 

 tion into Tropical Australia ' (p. 364) : " I took a ride with Mr. 

 Kenned)^ to the summit to which I had attached his name [Mt. 

 Kennedy on the Maranoa] ... a single specimen of a new 

 Kennedya was gathered there." This single specimen is all the 

 material Bentham had at his disposal when he described the plant, 

 and Major Mitchell gives no information about its habit. The 

 fruits and seeds are unknown to the present day.* 



According to the collector's notes it is a much taller climber 

 than K. rubicunda, and seems to resemble in habit the Harden- 

 bergia retusa of tropical Queensland, which overruns tall shrubs 

 and small trees on the edges of forests, almost smothering them 

 under its mass of dense foliage and flowers. It is an extremely 

 prolific flowerer, producing a stiff erect flowering-stalk at almost 

 every leaf-axil for a distance of perhaps 20 or 30 feet from the 

 top of the vine. 



It seems to be a very rare plant. F. M. Bailey gives no 

 additional locality to the original one (Mt. Kennedy) in his 

 ' Queensland Flora '; and in the National Herbarium, Melbourne, 

 onl}'- one locality is preserved, ^.e., Cungelella, probably a local 

 name, which we cannot trace. Mr. Boorman states that on Mt. 

 Dangar it grows on one spot only, and runs for a considerable 

 length up the sides of a steep incline. 



*PosTSCRiPT [added 16 : xii.: ' 04). —Fods mostly 2-2i inches long and about 

 g inch broad, symmetrical, straight and flattish, the valves slightly convex. 

 The valves densely hairy with white hairs, silky-pubescent inside. Seeds 

 kidney-shaped, longitudinal, laterally attached to a funicle protruding into 

 the cavity. 



