Lesscrtia.] xlvii. § papilionaceje (baker). 137 



late ; style filiform, penicillate in our species round the small round 

 terminal stigma. Pod stipitate, membranous, oblong or linear, the 

 valves flat in our species, finally dehiscing: at the apex. — Herbs or 

 undershrubs with imparipinnate leaves and racemose flowers. 

 A considerable Cape genus, of which we get a single outlying species. 



1. L. benguellensis, Baker. An erect undershrub with stiff as- 

 cending- branches canescent only on the petioles and slightly on the 

 branchlets. Stipules setaceous, minute. Leaves shortly petioled, 

 3-4 in. long; leaflets 9-13, ligulate, pale-green, rather fleshy, reach- 

 ing 8—10 lines long, truncate at the apex with a faint mucro. Flowers 

 up to a dozen in copious moderately lax short-stalked racemes much 

 shorter than the leaves. Calyx glabrous, 1 line long. Corolla 4 lines, 

 greenish-yellow, the wings reflexed and standard streaked with purple. 

 Pod with a pedicel which exceeds the calyx, oblong, glabrous, 12-15 

 lines long, 8-9 lines broad, 6-7- seeded. 



Lower Guinea. Mossamedes, Benguela, amongst red sandstone rocks at the base 

 of the Sierra de Montes Negros, Dr. Welwitsch 1 



28. ASTRAGALUS, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, i. 506. 



Calyx tubular, the teeth subequal. Petals with long claws ; standard 

 erect, ovate -oblong or panduriform ; wings oblong ; keel equalling the 

 wings or slightly shorter, obtuse, nearly straight. Upper stamen free, 

 the rest connate ; anthers uniform. Ovary sessile or stalked, multi- 

 ovulate ; style filiform, straight or incurved, glabrous, with a small ter- 

 minal stigma. Pod sessile or stalked, two-valyed, often more or less 

 completely divided longitudinally by a membranous dissepiment arising 

 from the dorsal suture. — Herbs or undershrubs. 



A very large genus, with its head-quarters in the Western half of Asia, with many 

 species in Eastern Asia, Europe, and round the shores of the Mediterranean, a few in 

 the Andes and Temperate South America, and one in Natal. 



Pods compressed, the longitudinal. dissepiments complete (Diplo- 

 theca, Hochst.). 



Stipules i-a in. long, \ in. broad I. A. venosus. 



Stipules 1-H in. long, f-1 in. broad 2. A. abyssinicus. 



Pods turgid, internal dissepiment very incomplete 3. A. prolixus. 



1. A. venosus, Hochst. in Schimp. Hb. Abyss. No. 190. Stems her- 

 baceous, erect, 2-3 ft. high, copiously and diffusely branched, the 

 branches glabrous or slightly silky. Stipules cordate-acuminate, un- 

 equal-sided, J-j in. deep, \ in. broad, free to the base. Leaves nearly 

 sessile; rachis 2-6 in. long; leaflets in 10-12 pairs, linear-oblong, 

 J-f in. long, 1-3 lines broad, short- stalked, apex rounded, mucronate, 

 both sides pale-green, glabrous or slightly grey-downy. Racemes 

 20-40-flowered, ultimately 3-6 in. long, on glabrous erect peduncles 

 1-3 in. long. Pedicels very short. Bracts linear, half as long as the 



