4 



Comesperma?^ xiv. polygale^. 143 



Stems very sleuder, almost leafless \^. C. defoliatum, 



Tico^ of the outer sepais connate. (Sect. Sisepalum^ Sfeefz.) 

 Flowers small, the whigs not twice as long as the outer sepals. 



Leaves fe\v, small, distaat 19. C, mdinscuhm. 



Wings 3 or 4 times as long as the outer sepals. Leaves linear. 

 Leaves strongly keeled. Keel-petal horned. Seeds with a 



membrane at the end furthest from the hiliim , ... 20. a virgaticm. 

 Leaves flat, not keeled. Keel-petal not horned. Seeds with- 

 out any appendage 21. C. pohjgaloides, 



1. C. sphserocarpum^ Stedz, in PL Preiss. ii. 31"4. Eootstock woody 

 but not thick, with slender, broom-like, or flexuose stems, sometimes perhaps 

 slightly twining, \ to 1-L ft. long, glabrous and slightly sulcate. Leaves re- 

 duced to minute distant scales, or the lower ones rarely 2 lines long, and 

 linear. Flowers 3 to 6, in a short loose terminal raceme, on pedicels of 1 to 2 

 Imes, the bracts very minute and deciduous. Outer sepals oblong, rather 

 acute, almost scarious, about half the length of the inner ones, which ar(5 

 broadly obovate, blue and petal-like, 2 to nearly 3 lines long. Corolla and 

 style of C, scopariiim. Capsule nearly orbicular, about 2 lines diameter, 

 shghtly cuneate at the base or at length quite obtuse, glabrous. Seeds ovate, 

 shortly pubescent, with a short membranous hairy appendage at the lower or 

 chalazal end. 



N. S- "Wales. Hunter's River and Port Jackson, E, Brown ; Mount Tomah, R. 

 Cunningham; Paramatta, JFool/s ; llasthM^^ nve,T, BecHer. 



2, C. scoparium, Sfeelz, in PL Preiss. ii. 30y. Stems woody at the 

 base, with numerous erect, rigid, broom-like, sulcate branches, 1 to 2 ft. high, 

 glabrous. Leaves all reihiced to minute distant scales. Flowers blue, singly 

 scattered along the smaller branches on exceedingly short, thickened pedicels, 

 surrounded by several minute, scale-like, obtuse, imbricate bracts. Outer 

 sepals rather rigid, obovate-oblong, more than half the length of the inner 



ones, the lowest the smallest. Inner sepals petal-like, very broadly obovate, 

 c-^bout 2 lines long ; keel-petal about as Jong, the 2 lateral lobes broad and 

 short; lateral petals shorter, narrow, free almost from the base, overlapping 

 the keel Ovary glabrous. Style not winged. Capsule sessile, cuneate-ob- 

 long, about 3 lines long, with a thickened margin. Seeds slightly pubescent, 

 ^'ith a hairy membrane at the chalazal end, often more than half the length 



of the seed, and continuous with the prominent raphe. — F. Muell. PL Vict. i. 

 ]86. ^ 



N. S. Wales. Desert of the Darling, near Fitzgerald ranges, F. Mueller, 

 ^ctoria. SauJy desert, near tlie ilurrav, haUachy. ^ 



MT. Australia. Swan River, where it 'is known as the ' Swan-river Broom, Drum- 

 f^ond; Murchison river, Oldfield ; rUzjrerald ranges, MoJcicelL 



3. C. aphyllum, R, Br, Herb. Tall, erect, and leafless, witli very nu- 

 merous slender, almost filiform, although rigid, divaricate branches, slightly 



snlcate, not thorny, and quite glaln^ons. Leaves all reduced to very mxmiie 

 distant scales. Flowers few and very small, singly scattered along tlie smaller 

 branches. Outer sepals small and "free; inner sepals scarcely above 1 hue 

 ^ong and petals scarcely longer. Capsule sessile, obovate, about 2 Unesloug. 

 Seeds without long hai'i's, but with a membranous appeudage at the lower or 

 chalazal end, more than half as long as the seed. 



