21 



PLATE 219. 



PSEUDARTHRIA HooKERi, Wight et Arn. (Prod. Fl. Ind. 209). 

 Natural Order, LEGUMINOS.S:. 



An erect undershrub 3-4 feet high. Steins stout, deeply furrowed, densely 

 pubescent with short greyish hairs. Leaves trifoliolate, petioles 1-1 inch long, 

 furrowed and pubescent like the steins. Stipules lanceolate, pubescent externally, 

 brown and glabrous within, 3-4 lines long. Leaflets, lateral ones ovate with re- 

 curved rauoro, rounded at base, margins entire or wavy, veins, veinlets and venules 

 prominent beneath, obscure above , densely velvety-pubescent beneath, finely 

 hirsute above ; petiolules 2-3 lines long, swollen, pubescent ; stipellae linear, 

 shorter than the petiolules, lamina 3^ inches long, 1-2^ inches wide ; terminal 

 similar but larger, its petiolule ^-1 inch long, stipellae 1-2 lines below its apex, 1 

 line long ; lamina 3-6 inches long. Flowers in terminal panicles reaching below 

 the leaves, red. Peduncles ribbed and pubescent like the stems; pedicels up to 2 

 lines long, slender. Calyx unequally 5-cleft, the two upper lobes connate nearly 

 to apex, lateral and lower one subulate, lowest longest, the lobes longer than the 

 campanulate tube, hispid externally. Bracts lanceolate, ciliate, equalling the 

 pedicels. Corolla papilionaceous, vexillum suborbicular, equalling alae and carina, 

 erect, ala? oblong, free, carina straight, obtuse. Stamens 10, diadelphous, the 

 vexillary one free to base. Ovary pilose, several ovuled. Style short, curved, 

 stigma globose. Legume strongly compressed, not jointed, 4-8 seeded, densely 

 hirsute-pubescent, tipped with remains of the style. Seeds oblong, compressed, 

 glabrous. 



Habitat : NATAL : In open ground from near the sea to at least 3,000 feet alt. 

 Near Pinetown, February, Wood; near Durban, Maich, 1900, Wood 7930. 



Drawn and described from the Durban specimens. 



A common plant in the coast and midland districts growing on grassy hills, or 

 amongst low shrubs and flowering in the autumn. It was formerly known as 

 Anarthrosyne robusta, B.M., and will be found under that name in the Flora 

 Capensis, Vol. 2, p. 229, but the genus Anarthrosyne has since been merged in 

 Pseudarthria, the plant here described is the only one of the genus which has been 

 found in Natal, and it is said to be also a native of Mauritius. The genus includes 

 10 species, of which 6 are found in Tropical Africa, and 3 in Java and East Indies. 

 Our plant is known to the natives as u-Pandosi, but is of no special value. 



Fig. 1 , calyx ; 2, vexillum ; 3, alas ; 4, carina ; 5, stamen ; 6, ovary, style and 

 stigma ; 7, legume opened ; all enlarged. 



