f 



4 



i 



4 





i 



{ 



i 



Tribulus,] XXVI. ZYGOPIIYLLE^. 291 



N. Australia. N.W. coast, Bptoe ; Victoria river, F, Mueller; islands of the Gulf 

 of Carpentaria, B, Brown ^ IIe?i7ie. 



13. T, minutus, Leiclih. in Herb. F, MuelL Pubescent, apparently 

 prostrate, and more slender tlian any other species. Leaves mostly opposite, 

 those of each pair unequal or one occasionally abortive, the lai-ger one of 3 to 

 5 pairs of obovate or oblong leaflets, about 2 or rarely 3 lines long. Plowers 

 veiy small. Stamens 10, witli the anthers all similar. Glands prominent. 

 Ovules solitary (or sometimes 3 ?) in each cell. Fruit nearly of T. Solandri, 

 but smaller; each carpel bearing a pair of small, reflexed, conical spines 

 about the middle and a pair of minute tuljercles lower down. 



Queensland (?), Leichhardfs Expedition, This species connects the two groups, 

 having the opposite leaves o^Tribiilus proper, with the fruit of TrihuloiAs, 



2. NITRARIA, Linn. 



Calyx small, 5-lobed. Petals 5, concave with inflexed points, induplicate- 

 valvate in the bud. Disk not prominent. Stamens 15, rarely 10 to 14, the 

 niaments free, without appendages, Ovaiy sessile, 2- to 6-celled, termina- 

 tmg in a short thick style, with 2 to 6 adnate stigmas ; ovules solitary in eacli 

 cell, ascending from pendulous funiculi, which are more or less adnate to 

 tlicir inner face. Fruit a drupe, with a beiTy-like sarcocarp ; putamcn ovoid- 

 acute, hard, marked outside with iiTcguIar depressions, and opening at tlio 

 top in 6 sliort, pointed valves, of which 3 inner ones smaller. Seeds soli- 

 ^^"^^ pendulous, without albimien.-^ Rigid shrubs, often thorny. Leaves al- 

 ternate or clustered, uiulivided, succulent. Stipules small. Flowers small, 

 white, in once- or twice-forked scorpioitl cymes. 



The genus, besides the widcly-sj)reail Australian species, comprises one other from Northern 

 Africa. ^ The raphe of the seed is described as dorsal by Spach, hut we hai^e always found it 

 Ventral in the ovary, aUhough the seed sometimes hangs obhqnely. 



1. N. Schoberi, Linn,; DC. Prod, iiL 456. A rigid spreading shmb, 



attaining 3 to 6 ft,, glabrous or hoary with a veiy mimite down, the smalkr 



branches occasionally spinescent. Leaves from c.uneate-oblong to lanceolate 



or linear, the lower ones obtuse and often 1 in. long, those of the smaller 



branches smaller and more acute, all entire, thick and fleshy. Cymes usually 



shortly pedunculate, the flowers sessile or shortly pedicellate along the scor- 



pioid branches. Petals about 1^ lines long. Ovary 3-celled. Dnipe varying 



frorn ovoid-globular to ovoid-oblong, the putamcn from \ to more than 4 m 

 Ion ' " - . , , 



^C. Prod. iii. 456 ; F. Muell. PL Vict. i. 92, t. Suppl. 7 ; N. Olivieri, Jaul). 

 *"i<l Spach, 111. PL Or. iii. 143, t. 295 ; Zijuoplnjllim australasicum, Miq. in 

 ri. Preiss. i. 164. 



F 



J'- S. "Wales. Pariing and Murrumbid^ee rivers, BaUachj and Goodwin. 



Victoria- Saline tracts on the Murray river, and in tlie N.W. part of the colony, F. 

 Mueller. 



S. Australia. Goose Island bnv, ^. Brown; along the coast, and nortliward to L-ike 

 J ^nxns, F. Mudlcr auil others. 



u 2 



