102 X. viOLAKiEiE. ITonidium, 



N. Australia- Gulf of Carpentaria, E. Brown j Danipier's Archipelago, A.Cunmng^ • 

 ham; Port Essington, Armstrong; Arnliem's Land to lat. 82° on the E. coast, F. Mueller, 



Queensland. Brisbane river, etc., Morcton Bay, I". Mueller, Fltzalau ; Rock- 

 hampton, Thozet ; Port Denison^ Fitzalan. 



lU. S. "Wales* Clarence and Hastings rivers, Beckler, 



The species is widely spread over tropical Asia and Africa. The above description is taken 

 from Australian specimens ; in the majority of Indian and African ones the leaves are broader 

 and the lower petal smaller. The flowers arc almost always purple, but some specimens of 

 Cnnninghani's and Brown's, said to have yellow flowers, have the seeds and foliage of 

 7. siiffrutlcosum, ratter than of /. aurantlacam. 



3. I. aurantiacum, F, MuelL Herb. Pubescent with short spreading 

 hairs or rarely glabrous^ often woody at the base, branched, 6 in. to 1 ft. high 

 or rather more. Leaves linear or oblong-lanceolate, 1 to \\ in. long, bor- 

 dered with small, distant, acute teeth. Flowers axillary, on peduncles of 3 to 

 4i\\xv^^,n^in I, suffndicosum, and nearly similar in structure, but the lower 

 petal is smaller and always yellow, the broad lamina usually shorter than the 

 long narrow claw, which is scarcely saccate at the base, and the appendages 

 of the fdamcnts of the lower stamens are covered with long woolly Ivans. 

 Seeds, in the few capsules I have seen, smooth and not striate. 



XiJ. Australia. N.W. coast, A. Canu'mgJiam^ Byaoe; Victoria river, Z Mueller, 

 Tlie distinction between this species and I. snffniticosnm may require revision when 



more abundant specimens iu flower and seed are obtained, and the relation of the dilfereiices 



of the seeds to tke otter characters more correctly ascertained. 



3. I. brevilabre, BentJt, A glabrous perennial with a woody rhizome. 

 Stems erect, divaricately branched, 6 in. to 1 ft. high, with few small leaves, 

 or in some specimens numerous, nearly simple, about. 6 in. high, with more 

 crowded and longer leaves, sometimes 1 in, long, always linear and ontn-c, 

 obtuse, or with a recurved point. Peduncles axillary, slender, 1- or rarely 3- 

 flowered, shorter than the leaves, with a pair of small narrow bracts under 

 the short recurved pedicels. Flowers small (blue?). Sepals narrow-ovate, 

 acute, rather more than 1 line long. Lateral petals about the same length, 

 very obtuse ; lowest petal rather longer, the lamina broadly rhomboid, much 

 shorter than the claw, which is broad, concave, with a short obtuse spur at 

 the base. Stamens with the terminal appendage longer than the cells, and 

 the 2 lower filaments distinctly spurred. 



W. Australia. Swan River, Drummond, \si Coll., and n. 6G5 of a subsequent one. _ 

 It is possible that further specimens may prove this to be a remarkable variety of Lflori- 

 hnndiim, 



4. X. floribimdum, Walp. Rep, ii. 767. A glabrous perennial, with 

 the habit of some European species of Thesium, forming sometimes a thick 

 woody rhizome, tlie stems erect, often mucli branched and rigid. Leaves all 

 alternate, ratlicr crowded, linear or huiceolate-linear, mostly with a short re- 

 curved point, ^ to 1 in. or rarely 1^ in. long, entire. Peduncles axillaiy, 

 usually once or twice forked, each branch bearing 1 or 2 snudl violet, blue, or 

 Avhite flowers, on pedicels of about a line, the whole forming little cynics 

 rarely exceeding tlie leaves, the lower peduncles sometimes 1 -flowered, but 

 always with several pairs of small bracts. Sepals ovate, 1 to nearly 2 lii^^^ 

 long. Lateral petals about the same length, very obtuse ; loAvest petal not 

 twice as long, the lamina broad, the short claw distinctlv spurred. Two 







