Clianthus.| LEGUMINOS. 121 
the length of the keel; keel large, falcate, acuminate. Pods 
2-3 in. long, turgid, many-seeded.—Lindl. in Bot. Reg. t. 1775; 
A. Cunn. Precur. 572; Raoul, Choiz, 49; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 
a, 49; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 52; Kirk, Students’ Fl. 118. Donia 
punicea, Don. Syst. 11. 468. 
Var. maximus, Kirk, l.c.—Leaflets larger, sometimes 14 in. long. Flowers 
rather smaller. Standard broadly ovate, acuminate, often with a dark spot at 
the base; wings oblong, broad, rounded at the apex.—C. maximus, Col. im 
Vrans. N.Z. Inst. xviii. (1886) 294. 
NortH Istanp: Exceedingly rare and local in a wild state, and fast 
becoming extinct. Small islets in the Bay of Islands, Colenso; Great Barrier 
Island, Kirk ; Mercury Bay, Banks and Solander ; several localities in the Kast 
Cape district, Banks and Solander! Bishop Williams ! Waimarama, Nairn. 
Formerly cultivated by the Maoris in many localities on the shores of the North 
Island. Kowhai-ngutu-kaka. August-November. 
The brilliancy of the flowers renders this plant a universal favourite, and it 
is now commonly cultivated in gardens throughout the colony under the name 
of ‘‘red kowhai.’”’ I agree with Mr. Kirk in considering that Mr. Colenso’s 
C. maximus is not entitled to the rank of a species. 
5. SWAINSONA, Salisb. 
Herbs or undershrubs. Stems erect or prostrate, sometimes 
climbing. Leaves unequally pinnate; leaflets usually numerous. 
Flowers in axillary racemes. Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed; teeth 
nearly equal. Standard orbicular or reniform, spreading or reflexed, 
shortly clawed; wings oblong, faleate or slightly twisted; keel 
broad, incurved, obtuse or produced into a twisted beak. Upper 
stamen free ; remainder connate into a sheath. Ovary sessile or 
stalked ; ovules numerous; style slender, incurved, bearded along 
the inner edge. Pod ovoid or oblong, turgid or inflated, membranous 
or coriaceous, 2-valved or almost indehiscent. Seeds several, 
small, usually reniform. 
With the exception of the following species, which is endemic in New 
Zealand, the genus is confined to Australia. It is very closely allied to the 
northern genera Colutea and Astragalus. 
1. S. novee-zealandiz, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 51.—A small 
herbaceous perennial 2-4in. high, more or less clothed with 
silky pubescence. Rhizome creeping, slender. Stems numerous, 
erect or spreading, branched above. Leaves 1-2in. long; leaflets 
6-8 pairs, +in. long, opposite, oblong or narrow-obovate, obtuse 
or retuse, sessile. Stipules broadly ovate, obtuse. Racemes 
3-8-flowered, on stout peduncles longer or shorter than the leaves ; 
pedicels not equalling the calyx, bracteolate at the base. Flowers 
purplish, $in. long. Calyx silky-hairy, with linear teeth as long as 
the tube, 2-bracteolate at the base. Pod large, inflated, lin. long, 
acute at both ends; valves thin, coriaceous. Seeds 5-10, small.— 
Kirk, Students’ Fl. 118. 
