702 THE FLORA OF NORFOLK ISLAND, 



LEGUMINOS^. 



28. MiLLETiA AUSTRALis, Bentli., in Miq., Pt. Jungh. 250. 

 (S}'!!. MiJletia (Wistaria) Catnerana, F.v.jVJ., Journ. Bot. xxiii. 

 353, 1885 : Milletiana Maidetiiava, Bailey, Bot. Bull. v. 1892; 

 Queensland Flora, 396 : Wista^-ia anstralis, F.v.M., Journ. Bot. 

 xxii. 290, 1884: Fterocarjms anstralis, Endl., Prod. Iv^orf. 152). 



I am of opinion that the above are specifically identical. 



For some notes on M. anstralis, M. riiegasperma and M. Camerana, 

 see Mueller in Journ. Bot. xxiii. 353. 



The Norfolk Island plant rarely fruits. Mr. I. Robinson has 

 only seen three fruits (one of which is in my possession) during 

 his very long sojourn on the Island. They are identical with 

 those of M. Maideniana. 



Endlicher did not see the fruits, and he called it " frutex v. 

 arbuscula"; it is really a rampant climber. 



"The road was chiefly through thick forest, overrun with luxuriant 

 climbers. Among them was a Wistaria, with pea-flowers, of purple and 

 green, and leaves something like those of the Ash. It hangs in festoons of 

 twenty or thirty feet, from the limbs of the trees that support it " (Backhouse, 

 258). 



It is a very tough climber, hence the people call it " Samson's 

 Sinew." It helped to form the almost impenetrable brush which 

 rendered traffic through the Island so difficult in the early days. 

 Accounts of the extraordinary denseness of the vegetation are 

 traditional, and can be well understood. 



29. Glycine tabacina, Benth. — New for the Island. 



30. Canavalia obtusifolia, P. DC. (Syn. C. Baueria.na, 

 Endl., Prod. Norf. 50). — This plant is probably referred to in the 

 following passage: — "In the evening of yesterday the sawyer, 

 his assistant, and ye carpenter was poisoned, by eating some 

 beans which had a very tempting appearance much like ye broad 

 Windsor bean; they have been so ill as not to do any work to-day." 

 (Lieut. Govr. King, 8th May, 1788, in Hist. Rec. N.S.W. ii. 568). 

 A purple-flowered runner on the coast, and reputed poisonous in 

 Australia (see my 'Useful Native Plants of Australia,' p. 12). 



