334 xlvii. § mimose.2E (oliver). [Neptunia. 



Stamens 10 (or 5), free, exserted ; anther with a deciduous " stipitate 

 gland," pollen-grains oo 1 " Ovary stipitate, multiovulate ; style fili- 

 form, with a small terminal concave stigma." Legume shortly and 

 broadly oblong, oblique and almost at right angles with the short 

 stipes, apex rounded with a distinct apiculus, compressed, thinly coriace- 

 ous or submembranous, 2-valved, valves depressed between the seeds. 

 Seeds transverse, oblong or ovate, compressed, with a slender funicle ; 

 embryo between thin lateral layers of albumen. — Unarmed herbs or 

 low undershrubs, aquatic in the only African species. Leaves bipin- 

 nate, multifoliolate. Peduncles axillary, solitary, elongate; flowers 

 capitate. 



A small genus common to both hemispheres, with the species (the following) widely 

 diffused in tropical waters. 



1. N, oleracea, Lour. ; Benth. in Hook. Journ. Bot. iv. 1842, 354. 

 Aquatic often floating glabrous herbs, with copiously rooting diffuse 

 or prostrate branches. Leaves sensitive ; pinnae 2-3-jugate ; leaflets 

 8-20-jugate, obtuse or broadly pointed, base very oblique, subsessile, 

 usually J— J in. long. Stipules semicordate, membranous. Petiolar 



f lands apparently wanting. Peduncles usually from 2 or 3-8 in. 

 'etals oval or oval-spathulate, free. Stamens 10. Staminodes of neuter 

 flowers compressed. Legume about 1 in. long, J-J in. broad. Seeds 4-8. 

 — N. stolonifera, Guill. et Perr. Fl. Seneg. i. 239. Desmanthus nutans, 

 Willd., DC. Prod. ii. 444. D. lacustris, Willd., and D. stolonifer, DC. 1. c. 

 (Synonymy from Mr. Bentham's memoir.) 



Upper Guinea. Senegamhia ( Guill. et Perr.). 



Nile Land. Kordofan, Kotschy ! White Nile, Petherick! 



Lower Guinea. Angola? a portion of a leafy shrub only, Dr. Welwitschl 



Mozamb. Distr. Shire river, Zambesi land, Dr. Kirk! 



10. DESMANTHUS, Willd. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. 

 Plant, i. 592. 



Flowers sessile in small pedunculate heads, 5-merous, hermaphro- 

 dite or the lower ones imperfect. Calyx campanulate, toothed. Petals 

 free (or slightly cohering), valvate. Stamens 10 or 5 free, exserted; 

 anther oblong, eglandular, " pollen-grains oo ." Ovary sessile or nearly 

 so, glabrous, multiovulate ; style filiform ; stigma terminal, truncate, 

 concave. Legume narrow-linear, straight (or falcate), pointed, com- 

 pressed, thinly coriaceous, 2-valved; valves depressed obliquely be- 

 tween the seeds. Seeds compressed, subrhomboidal, with an oblong- 

 hippocrepiform areole ; embryo within lateral layers of dark subtranslu- 

 cent albumen. — Herbs or undershrubs, unarmed. Leaves bipinnate, 

 leaflets small; stipules setaceous, persistent. Flower-heads small, 

 whitish, pedunculate, axillary, solitary. 



A small American genus, with one species (the following) widely scattered in culti- 

 vated places between the Tropics in the Old World. 



* 1. D. virgatus, Willd. ; DC. Prod. ii. 445. Shrub with slender 

 erect or ascending branches, angular owing to three prominent decur- 



