Lotononis.] xlvii. § papilionace^: (baker). n 7 



bluntish with a faint mucro. Flowers 6-18 in dense racemes on leaf- 

 opposed peduncles 6-3,6 lines long-. Pedicels J-l line long, with a 

 minute linear bracteole. Calyx \ in., turbinate, glabrous, the 4 upper 

 teeth lanceolate-deltoid, shorter than the tube, the lowest narrower. 

 Corolla pale yellow, twice the calyx, the standard ovate- acuminate, the 

 keel-petals 1 line broad. Pod linear, compressed, 6-8 lines long-, 

 4 in. broad, upcurved, glabrous, 15-20-seeded. 



Lower Guinea. Angola ; Huilla and Pungo Andongo, Dr. Welwitsch I 

 Identical with the last in general habit ; differing principally in the stipules and 

 calyx-teeth. 



2. ROTHIA, Pers. j JBenth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, i. 477. 



Calyx deeply 5-cleft, with subequal divisions. Standard spathulate 

 in our species ; wings narrow ; keel-petals scarcely adhering to one 

 another. Stamens united in a tube slit above ; anthers small, uniform. 

 Ovary sessile, multiovulate ; style straight glabrous ; stigma capitate. 

 Pod lanceolate, falcate, inflated, dehiscing by the upper suture. — 

 Annual diffuse herbs. 



Two closely allied species, the other inhabiting India and Tropical Australia. The 

 genus forms an exception to the rest of the Tribe by its uniform anthers. 



1. R. hirsuta, Baker. A diffusely branched annual about half a 

 foot high, the branches densely clothed with long silky grey pubes- 

 cence. Petioles 3 lines. Leaflets 3, subsessile, oblanceolate, 6-9 lines 

 long, acute, both sides silky. Flowers 2-5 on short pedicels, sessile 

 or nearly sessile from the axils of the leaves. Calyx silky, 2-2i lines 

 deep, the lanceolate teeth reaching more than halfway down. Corolla 

 whitish -violet not exserted. Pod sessile, \ in. long, very silky, many- 

 seeded. — Xerocarpus hirsutus, Guill. et Perr. Fl. Seneg. 169. t. 44. 



Upper Guinea. Senegal, Perrottet ! 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimpcr! Nubia, teste Beniham. 



Lower Guinea. Huilla, Angola, 5500 ft. Dr. Welwitsch ! 



3. CROTALARIA, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PL i. 479 



Calyx with 'a campanulate tube and five distinct equal or subequal 

 teeth. Petals subequal ; standard orbicular or ovate with a short claw ; 

 keel distinctly suddenly or gradually rostrate, much upcurved. Ovary 

 sessile or stalked, bi- or multi-ovulate ; style abruptly bent upwards 

 near the base, bearded along the inner side. Stamens united in a tube 

 slit along the top ; anthers dimorphous. Pod sessile or distinctly 

 stalked, round, oblong, or linear, continuous within, turgid. — Herbs or 

 shrubs with simple or digitately trifoliolate (in one Trop. African species 

 multifoliolate) leaves. Flowers in racemes sometimes congested, ter- 

 minal or leaf-opposed or rarely in the axils of the leaves. Bracts and 

 stipules usually minute, setaceous. 



A large genus spread throughout. the Tropical regions of both hemispheres, with its 

 head-quarters in Tropical Africa. Several species extend to the Cape. 



