? 



i 



Pdiospornm,'] xii. pittospoke.^. 



113 



Imear-lanceolate, with- a small hooked point, 9 to 4 in. long, quite entire, 

 narrowed into a petiole, thick coriaceous and indistinctly veined, but in 

 some forms short and broadly oblong, in others long and narrow. Pe- 

 dicels axillary, solitary or in sessile or shortly pednnenlate clusters or nnv 

 bels, or the npi^ermost fortniiig a terminal ckister. Flowers yellow, usually 

 about 4 lines long, often dioecious, the females rather larger and fewer 

 together than the males. Sepals short and very obtuse. Petals nuited to 

 the middle or still higher, spreading at the top. Ovary pubescent, almost 

 completely 2-celled, with 6 to 8 oviiles in each cell Fruit ovate or round- 

 cordate, much compressed, quite smooth, varying from 4 to 9 lines in length, 

 hut usually about | in. Seeds few, dark *or orange-red.— Putterl. in PI. 

 Preiss. i. 192 ; F, Muell. PL Yict. i. 72 ; P. anguBtifolium, Lodd. Pot. Cab. 

 **1?59; F.louglfoUum and P, lioearwm, Putterl. Syn. Pittosp. 15, 16; 

 P. ligudrifoUmn, A. Cunn. in Putterl. 1. c. Ifi, and in Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 1, 

 IF. 110; Putterl. in PI. Preiss. i. 190; P. olea folium, A. Cunn. in Putterl. 

 Syn. Pittosp. 17 ; i^. acacioides, A. Cunn. in Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 1, iv. 109 ; 

 -P. saUcinmn, Lindl. in Mitch. Trop. Austr. 97 ; P. lanceolatum, A. Cuin:i. in 

 Mitch. I.e. 272 and 291. 



N. Australia. Upper Victoria river and Stm-t^s Creels, F. Mueller, 

 Queensland. Brigalow scrub, Milchelh ^'lud Bunlfkin river, Warwick, F. Mueller, 

 W. S- "Wales. Narran river and N.W. iiiterior, Mitchell; generally dibperscJ over 

 the Ulterior, A. Cunningham, 



Victoria. Sandy, barren, or sloay declivities and plains dispersed through the desert, 

 F. Mueller, • ^ ^ . i i 



S. Australia, On the coast, R, Brown ; Kangaroo Island, rouTid Spcncer^s Gulf and 

 other localilies, F. Mueller, 



y^' Australia. SwnnTixvQT, Dnimmond, Preiss, n, 1297 ; "Rotteuest Island, A. Cun- 

 rkirighan.^ Preiss ; Dirk Harloij Inland, A. CKumnyliam ; Murchisou river, Oldfeld; 

 Abrolhob island, Bf/noe, Moore i7i Herb, Pretss,n, 1294. 



This species, apparently spread over the whole desert country of Australia, cannot be con- 

 founded with any other, notwithstanding the variability of the proportions of its leaves, 

 flowers, and fruit. In some of the western specimens the kaves are barely 2 inches Jong, 

 and fully ^ inch wide, whilst in a large number of eastern and some western ones they attain 

 4 or 5 iuehes in length with a breadth of only 2 or 3 lines. 



A small tree, attaining in 



the young 

 crowded. 



f--jj — *»*v^v^vyn,i^^i^ yjl lllJii\JOt lim.lilj vy»-/t"*>^ij ^^ •- * -- 1 



inostly 1 to 2 in. long, entire, the margins much revolutc, ncnrly sessile or on 

 very short petioles, thick and coriaceous, glabrous above, tomentose or silky 

 underneath. Pedicels from 2 or 3 lines to nearly 1 in. long, axillary, clus- 

 tered or solitary, usually reflexed, the little bracts at their base numerous and 

 conspicuous, tlie uppennost pedicels often in a terminal cluster. Sepals ob- 

 long or lanceolate. Petals purple and yellow, 4 to 5 lines long, free or nearly 

 so, spreading from above the middle. Ovary villous, with 10 or more ovules 

 to each placenta. Capsule rounded, somewhat compressed, 4 to 5 hues 

 nroad, tomentose, the valves not very thick. Seeds usually rather numerous. 

 —Hook. f. n. Tasni. i. 38; F. Muell. PI. Vict. i. 12; P. discolor, Eegel, 

 Gartenfl. i. 133, t. 15 ; P. IluegeUanum, Puttcii in Endl. Nov. Stu-j). Dec. 43 

 (from the description given). 



VOL. I. 



