

Galadia.] XL. lkguminos^E. 255 



Prostrate or twining herbs. Leaflets 3 or rarely 1 or 5, stipellate. Flowers 

 in axillary racemes, clustered along the common peduncle. Bracts small, se- 

 taceous, deciduous. Bracteoles very small. 



The species are chiefly American, one of them widely spread over the warmer regions of 

 both the New and the Old World, two or three others are African or Asiatic. Of the two 

 Australian species, one is the common cosmopolitan one, the other is endemic. The genus is 

 readily distinguished Ly the acuminate calyx with the upper lobe always quite entire. 



Glabrous or puhescent with spreading hairs. Flowers few in the raceme, 



^ iiDder i in. long 1. ff. ienuiflora. 



iMlky-pnbesceut or villous. Flowers numerous, 7 or 8 hnes long . . . 2. (?. Muelleri. 



1. G. tenuiflora, JFilld, ; Wight and Jni. Prod. 206, Stems from a 

 thick rhizome, usually slender, twining, attaining several feet, glabrous or pu- 

 bescent with spreading or reflcxed hairs. Leaflets 3, ovate or oblong, usually 

 1 to 2iu. long and obtuse, but variable in shape and size, glabrous or pubes- 

 cent especially underneath. Peduncles rarely exceeding 6 in., with few dis- 

 tant ckisters of 2 or 3 flowers each, on a small gland-Iike node. Pedicels 

 ^^Jy short. Flowers pale reddish-purple or nearly white, vaiying from 4 to 

 6 hues. Calyx-lobes narrow, longer than the tube. Pod 1 to 2 in. long, 

 ™ear, flat, coriaceous, with thickened margins, glabrous or pubescent. Seeds 

 obliquely attached, smooth. 



N. Australia. Upper Victoria river, F. Mueller; islands of the Gulf of Carpentana 

 »Qa adjoiuiug coast, R. Brotcn, Henne, Landsborough ; Strangways river, M'Douall 

 Stuart's Expediiioju 



Queensland. Endeavour river, Banks and Solauder ; Keppel Bay, R. Brotcn ; Port 

 ^"His and Keppel Island, M'GiUivrat/ ; Brisbane river, F. Mueller ; Broad Sound, Boirman. 



n. S. Wales. Clarence river, Moore, BecMer ; between the DarUog and Cooper's 

 treek, Neihon, 



The species is common in tropical Asia, Afriea, and America, and varies much in the 

 Dreadth of the leaflets from almost oibicular to linear, iu the indumcutura, and in the size of 

 tfie flowers. This has given rise to very numerous synonyms, of which nineteen are quoted 

 n -Mai-t. Fl. Bras. Papil. 143. The Australian specimens have usually larger flowirs and 

 T P'J^ straighter thau in most of those from other countries, but some arc precisely like 

 ^iieludiauoues. 



2. G. Muelleri, Benih. A lar^-er and mncli stouter plant than G. te- 

 ^^^ora, the branches softly toincntose. Leaflets oval-oblong and veiy obtuse 

 ^J- elhptical, \\ to 2^ in. long, firm, softly silky-pubescent on both sides. 

 peduncles long, rigid, bearing numerous flowers, considerably larger than m 

 J^- tmdjlora, in distinct or distant clusters. Calyx silky, nearly 5 hues long, 

 standard 7 to 8 lines long. Pod silky, about 3 in. long, straight, 



N. Australia. Fitzmaurice river, F, Mueller. 



57. CANAVALIA, DC. 



, Calyx 2 npper lobes united hito a large obtuse entire or 2-lobed upper lip 

 f lower ones into a much smaller entire or S-lobed lower lip. b andard 

 f^'oad, reflexed, with 2 callosities inside above the claw ; wmgs oblong or 

 ^i>iear, falcate or twisted, free: keel incurved and sometimes rostrate, bta- 

 "f^^^ all united in a tube, open at the very base, where the upper one is 

 ^^^;^ anthers uniform. Ovary shortly stipitate, with sevend ovules ; style 



^iform or slightly thickened, with a terminal stigma. Pod oblong or hnear, 



