26 



PLATE 274 



ABGYROLOBIUM STIPULACEUM E. & Z. (Fl. Cap. Vol. 2, p. 71). 

 Natural Order, LEGCMINOS^. 



A low undershrub with bright yellow flowers. Stems erect, sub-simple, 

 terete, densely pilose with long white silky hairs ; 3 to 6 inches high. Leaves 

 alternate, stipulate, trifoliolate, distant in lower portion of stem, closer placed 

 upwards, leaflets elliptic-oblong to ob-lanceolate, margins entire, acute at apex, 

 tapering to base, densely silvery and silky villous on lower surface, thinly so 

 above ; -| to 1^ inch long, 2 to 5 lines broad. Common petioles 1 to 3 lines long, 

 secondary ones none. Stipules broadly ovate, similar to the leaves, sessile, reaching 

 to 13 or 14 lines long, 4 to 6 lines wide. Flowers sub-umbellate, axillary and 

 terminal ; peduncles reaching to 2 inches long, pedicels 1 to 4 lines long. Calyx 

 gamosepalous, 2-lipped, upper lip deeply 2-lobed, lobes lanceolate, lower lip 3-fid 

 half way down, central tooth narrow linear, lateral ones broader, acuminate, silky 

 villous ; the whole calyx 6 to 7 lines long. Corolla papilionaceous, vexillum erect, 

 broadly ovate, densely silky on back, longer than carina ; alae oblong, glabrous, 

 carina obliquely oblong. Stamens monadelphous ; anthers 10, of which five are 

 large and oblong, and 5, ovate and smaller. Ovary many ovuled, pilose with long 

 hairs ; style curved, glabrous ; stigma sub-globose. Legume inflated, oblong, 

 pilose, 1 inch long. 



t 



Habitat : NATAL : Coast to 4,500 feet alt ; Mooi River district, 4,500 feet alt, 

 October, Wood in Government Herbarium, No. 3761 ; near Tongaat under 1,000 

 feet alt, October, Wood No. 8322. 



A rather pretty plant with very conspicuous flowers, and usually silvery 

 foliage. It is found in grassy places almost all over the Colony, but not so 

 plentifully on the coast as in the midlands. It has no known useful properties, 

 and the natives do not appear to have any distinctive name for it. 



Fig. 1, flower; 2, calyx opened; 3, vexillum; 4, ala; 5, carina; 6, stamens 

 and stigma ; 7, ovary style and stigma ; 8, legume ; except Fig. 8, all enlarged. 



