BY J. H. MAiDEN. 39 



Branches terete or nearly so. Flowers- 

 glabrous. 



Calyx sinuate toothed (or truncate). 



Pod very narrow and straight]. 



(often curled and flexuous. J. H M.) . .le/piocarpa 



Calyx sinuate toothed (or truncate) 



[Pod broad, very flexuose or twisted, 

 not spiral (netted veined, J. H. M.) 

 Seeds along the centre]. . . . . . . polystachya 



The phyllodes of all four species may be very much 

 alike, and it would be well if further enquiries could be 

 locallj^ made in regard to the amount of variation in each 

 species. Subject to reservations, the phyllodes of A. 

 julifera are falcate, comjanratively narrow and short. Those 

 of A. Solandri maj- be long, narrow, and hardly falcate. 

 Those of A. leptocarpa and .4. polystachya may be large and 

 broad, but I am speaking only very generally. 



The sepals of A. julifera are spathulate and divided, 

 and are sharply different to those of the other three species. 



The spike of A. julifera is dense, Avhile that of A. 

 Solandri is thin and markedly interrupted ; this seems to 

 me a character. Those of A. leptocarpa are moderately 

 dense, but by no means so thin and interrupted as those of 

 A. Solandri. The spike of A. polystachya is interrupted, 

 but not to the same extent as .1. Solandri ; their similarity 

 in this respect is, however, sufficiently close to necessitate 

 great care, especially as the calyces of the last three species 

 strongly resemble each other. 



Coming to the pods, the figure of that of A. julifera, as 

 figured by Bent ham in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx, t. 68, shows a 

 cincinnal or cochliate fruit, but (see Plate ii) the pod ma}- 

 sometimes take on a looser form, and thus come nearer to 

 that of A . Solandri. The pod of .-I . Solandi i is described 

 b}^ Mueller in Macleay Mem. Vol., p. 225. as "" curled- 

 flexuose, compressed, about ^ inch broad." Bentham's 

 description (p. 317) of the pod of A. leptocarpa as very 

 narrow and straight, is not always true, but it may be curved 

 and flexuose (as originally observed by Mueller in Macleay 

 Mem. Vol), so that in this respect it may approach A. 

 Solandri. The pod of .4. polystachya is different to that of 

 the other three, being comparatively l)road and netted- 

 veined. 



