PLATE 230. 



LOTUS DISCOLOR, B.M. (Comm. PL Af. Aust. 92). 

 Natural Order, LEGUMINOS.S:. 



A diffuse suffruticose plant with many divaricately branching stems from a 

 perennial root. Stems and branches tere.te or striate, pubescent, older glabrous. 

 Leaves alternate, sessile, 3-5 foliolate, leaflets oblong-cuneate to oblanceolate, sub- 

 sessile or very shortly petiolate, entire, acute at apex, tapering to base, midvein 

 prominent beneath, margin thickened, pubescent with white hairs beneath, 

 sparingly so above, dark green on upper surface, paler beneath ; terminal leaflet 

 5-9 lines long, 2-3 lines wide, lowest pair, 3-4J lines long, 1^-2 lines w<de ; com- 

 mon petiole channelled above, 2-2^ lines long, having a glandular swelling below 

 at junction of uppermost pair of leaflets, pubescent. Flowers in axillary and ter- 

 minal long pedunculated, few flowered umbels, dull greenish or yellowish white. 

 Peduncles 2-4 inches long, longest in fruit, terete, pubescent, each umbel sub- 

 tended by a small trifoliate bract similar to the leaves, but smaller. Calyx cam- 

 panulate, pubescent, bilabiate, upper lip 2-toothed, lower 3-toothed, the teeth 

 acuminate, upper ones largest. Corolla papilionaceous, vexillum shorter than 

 alas, obtuse, emarginate, strongly reflexed, margins incurved towards base ; alae 

 oblong, clawed, subsaccate at base, 4 lines long, claw 1^ line long, curved ; carina 

 rostrate, dark coloured and shining at apex, shading off to dull pink in centre, dull 

 white at base; 3 lines long. Stamens 10, diadelphous, 9-1, filaments thickened 

 at apex, minutely glandular, anthers oblong, basifixed. Ovary cylindrical, many 

 ovuled, glabrous, style shorter than ovary, strongly knee-bent ; stigma minute, 

 capitate. Legume linear, compressed, many seeded, septate between the seeds. 



Habitat: NATAL: Inanda, 1,800 feet alt., November, Wood; near Durban, 

 100 feet alt., April, Wood. Zulaland, April, Wood No. 3952. 



Of this genus about 100 species have been described, but according to the 

 Genera Plantarum this number may be reduced to less than 50. The species here 

 described is the only one known to be indigenous in Natal. In the Fl. Capensis 

 the calyx is said to be " 5-cleft or 5-toothed," but in all the specimens we have 

 examined it is as stated in the text. The lowest pair of leaflets have been 

 described as stipules, but close examination will show that they are really leaflets, 

 and the bracts subtending the umbels are exactly similar to the leaves, but 3, not 

 5-foliolate, and never more than one to each umbel. Some of the European 

 species are said to be good fodder or meadow plants, and one or more of them are 

 known as " Bird's foot Trefoil." 



Fig. 1 , flower ; 2, calyx opened ; 3, vexillum back view ; 4, same front view ; 

 5, ala ; 6, carina ; 7, ovary style and stigma ; 8, diadelphous stamens ; 9, a stamen ; 

 all enlarged. 



