•',""*;' ] Hakdv, Distribution of Leaf Glands in Acacias. 29 



sight, or conspicuously situated on the margin, remote from 

 the base, and with an equally conspicuous short, oblique nerve 

 or vein connecting it to the midrib. Within my experience 

 this latter occurs only in species included in Bentham's series 

 Uninerves, the few examples at present available being A. 

 penninervis, A. pycnantlm, A. obtusata, and A. decora, but 

 there may be others, especially amongst the smaller-leaved 

 Uninerves, in which it could be detected only with difficulty. 

 This oblique nerve, as of diagnostic \'alue, has been made too 

 prominent in description of A. penninervis in his "Key" by 

 F. von Mueller,* and I prefer the more guarded language of 

 Bentham,* for since, as I now believe, I erroneously recorded ® 

 A. pycnantha for a locahty in the North-Eastern province of 

 Victoria, I have taken special note of hundreds of plants of both 

 this species and of A. penninervis, and am convinced that, 

 although in A. penninervis, especially its variety falciformis, 

 the supra-basal nerve is often present, whole trees may 

 be examined in some localities, and the marginal gland 

 found to have, where remote from the base, no prominent 

 nerve, or to be so near the base as to render the nerve in- 

 visible. In .1 . pycnantha, on the other hand, no oblique nerve 

 of the kind has been mentioned, so far as I am aware ; yet, in 

 the National Herbarium collection and my own there are 

 specimens showing the nerve distinctly, and the fresh twig 

 taken at random from :\ tree in Studley Park, Kew, shows the 

 oblique nerve well developed. Specimens of A. pycnantha from 

 dry, auriferous districts of Victoria, such as that from near 

 Maldon exhibited, often show not only the feature above- 

 mentioned but also a second gland much higher up — near the 

 middle. Hence, although ,1. penninervis and A. pycnantha 

 may, as a rule, be readily recognized by all but the novice in 

 the field, and in the fruiting liand-specimens, it becomes a 

 matter of diificulty to discriminate among fruitless herbarium 

 material. H anything, the more nerve-hke margins of the 

 former, the higher relief of its secondary venation and its often 

 glaucous appearance hold good, and I have examined many 

 trees bearing, amongst others, abundant phyllodia the upper 

 margins of which bore, in addition to a nerveless gland near 

 the l)ase. from one to five minute denticles or prickles at 

 irregular int(r\;ds. 'i'hcse last I ha\-e never seen in .1. 

 pyoHUitha. 



Another si)ecies, A. alata, \\\\\c\\, through slovenly jMonuncia- 

 tion of the specific name, is often confused with .1. data, and 

 than which, perhaps, no other s]iecies is more unlike — may be 

 referred to. This species has decurrent phyllodes alternating, 

 and thus giving the branches a winged appearance (hence the 

 name). K\(e|)ling (he (lenirrcnl part, the iihyllodc is (>nl\- .1 littl(> 



