364 Mr. Bentham's Observations on the Genus Hosackia 



are always at the base of the leaves, in some species small and scariose, in one 

 large and foliaceous, but formed more like those of the Ficiece than of Lotus, 

 and in all the species of the second division, as described below, so minute 

 as to appear like a little black spot, and even that is observable only on the 

 younger leaves of some species. 



In Microlotus the flower does not present any essential differences from 

 that of our European Loti. The leaves appear at first sight to be irregularly 

 pinnate with from three to five (and never more) leaflets, without any trace of 

 stipules ; but if it be considered that the lowest of the leaflets often occupies 

 the place of a stipule, and that the two lowest (where there are more than three) 

 are never opposite to each other, the opinion is suggested that the two lowest 

 leaflets where there are five, or one or two where there are four, are in fact 

 of the same nature as the foliaceous stipules of the European Loti, only as it 

 were petiolate, with their petioles adhering to the common petiole of the leaf. 

 This explanation is not indeed strictly compatible with the structure of the 

 leaf of Lotus subpinnatus, as figured in Hooker and Arnott's Botany of Captain 

 Beechey's Voyage, tab. 8. ; but in my specimens I do not find the petiole to be 

 concave, and the two lower leaflets both proceed from the upper side or (with 

 reference to a horizontal plane) from the middle line of the petiole, and at the 

 base of the petiole the bundles of vessels proceeding from these leaflets appear 

 to lie one on each side of that middle line. This point, however, is difficult to 

 determine upon dried specimens, where the apparently unilateral direction of 

 the leaflets is very remarkable. 



I now proceed to resume the character of Hosackia according to the above 

 view, adding a synopsis of all the species of Hosackia and Microlotus I am 

 acquainted with. 



Hosackia. Dougl. Benth. in Bot. Reg. sub t. 1257- 

 Calyx tubulosus vel subcampanulatus, 5-dentatus. Fexilli unguis a caeteris 

 distans. Alee vexillum subsequantes, patentes. Carina submutica. Sty- 

 lus subrectus. Stigma capitatum. Legumen cylindraceum, apterum. 

 Herbce Boreali-Americanae, perennes ?. Folia impari-pinnata. Stipulx scariosse, 

 minutissimffii vel foliolis diffbrmes. Pedunculi axillares, umbellatim pluri- 

 flori, folio florali saepifis stipati. 



