I 



^riiia,] _ XL. LEGUjviiNos^, 229 



u 



b. zeyJonensis. Stems elongated and loose. Leaflets ratlier larger, all ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate. Bracts rather broad. Piovvers rather larger. 



c. gracilis. Stems more erect, glabrous or hairy as well as the leaves. Leaflets mostly 

 lanceolate or linear or even all linear. Bracts rather narrow. Flowers small. 



^ In all the varieties the pod may he found smooth or miirlcate, glabrous or pubescent, and 

 m oue of the forms of the var. gracilis, from Start's Creek, F. Mueller {Z. chatoj^liora, 

 *. Muell. in Trans. Phil. Inst. Vict. iii. 56) ; the pods are rather larger and covered with 

 ngid seta; much longer than in any other Zornia 1 have seen. 



44. DESMODIUM, Desv. 



(Deudrolobium, W, and Am. ; Dicerma, DC; Nicolsonia, DC) 



Calyx-tube short, the 2 upper lobes more or less united. Standard from 

 oblong to orbicular, narrowed at the base ; wings oblong, usually .adhering 

 la the middle to the keel; "keel ol)tuse. Upper stamen free or more or less 

 united with the others in a sheath or tube; anthers uniform. Ovary sessile 

 or stipitate with 2 or more ovules ; style incurved, subulate. Pod longer than 

 the calyx, flat, one or both sutures indented between the seeds, separating into 

 pdehisceut 1 -seeded articles, or rarely the articles opening on the lower edge 

 in 2 valves, and then not always readily separating.— Herbs shrub* or rarely 

 SQiall trees. Leaves pinnately 3-foIiolate or 1-foliolate, with stipellae. Sti- 

 pules usually dry, striate, membranous. Flowers purple, blue, pink or white, 



usually small, in terminal racemes or panicles, or rarely in axillary umbels or 

 clusters. ^ 



^A ver}' large genus widely dispersed over the tropical regions both of the Nev 



■ i"^ ^^tending beyond the tropics into N. America, and a very few species i 



Fcal ^5. America, S. Africa, and extratropical Australia. ' ^ " ' -^-''"■ 



Cal / ' ^^^^'^^ ^° ^^^^ ^^^^^'^ ^'^*^ *^^ Archipelago, one i 



ed 



ew and the Old 



into extratro- 



Of the 10 Australian species, six 



. --0 «o. xuum aau tuc .-xiuuipiriat;^, uui, IS coiuuion to Australia and New 



leaouia, the remaining 9 are endemic hut partaking of the general character of the Asiatic 

 Pfcies, With the exception of D, acanihodadum. which is singular in the genus for its 

 sp'nescnt branchlets. . 



whit^i"^""^ is readily divisible into from 12 to 15 tolerably well-marked sections, many of 

 to I 1— ^*^^" proposed by myself or others as distinct genera; but as they have prov._ 

 .tl^^7*'"g"'«hed some bv habit only without marked floral or cariwlogical characters, 

 ^rs by variations in the fruit, not p.lways constant nor easily appreciated, I found it more 

 jvenieut, on a general review for the Floras of Brazil and Hongkong, to retain them aU 

 ^•^der one generic name. 



Wings usiialhj free from the heel, ' Fod glabrous or sillcy-hairy, 

 jers white, in dense axillarv shortly pedunculate umbels. Pod- 



leafv^ ^"^^ * ^^ *^^"®^ umbels or heads along the branches of a - 

 Pn7 £^^^^^' each umbel almost enclosed in a 2- foliolate leaf. 

 Cer "^'f '' ^' ^^^^'^ ^^bicular (Sect. PhyUodium) . . . i. D.^uhhdUm. 

 2 „ ^\ ^^^ess racemes. Pedicels short crowded. Pod-articlea 

 .nearly orbicular. Ijt^^^i^ digitate or nearly so ^^^'(•^'Oi^' ^,. .- r/ 



'»yj adhering to slight lateral 'protuberances or membranous appendages of the keel 



3DiL f^^^^^^^^' Flowering brandies reduced to axillary 



tipU Vrr ^ ^^ 2 pairs of flowers below the summit. Pod-ar- ,y , j 



C^^'''"^^^"'^^^"t usually lor 2 only ^. Racanthocladum., 



J ^^ ^^^'cnics or panicles. Ovules several, rarely 2 only. Pod 

 ^veral articles (unless by abortion) indehisccut, the upper 



H 



m 



