74 leguminos^:. [Crotalaria. 



A large genus, chiefly tropical, with a few cxtratropical species in North America, South 

 Africa, or Australia. 



Leaves simple, sessile. 



Erect perennial of 3 ft. Petals longer than the calyx 1. C. retusa. 



Annuals or decumbent pereuniiils. Petals shorter or not longer than the calyx. 

 Calyx covered with long spreading hairs. 



Fruiting calyx near 1 inch. Flowers pale yellow. Seed in a loose 



raceme 2. C. calycina. 



Fruiting calyx 8-9 lines. Flowers blue, in a short dense raceme . 3. C. brevipes. 

 Calyx slightly hoary or silky with short appressed hairs .... 4. C. albida. 

 Leaves with 3 leaflets. Pod nearly globular * 5 . C. elliptica. 



1. C. retusa, Linn.; Benth. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. ii. 480; Bot. 

 Reg. t. 253 ; Bot. Mag. t. 2561. An erect undershrub of about 3 ft., with few 

 stiff erect branches, hoary with a short pubescence. Leaves simple, cuneate- 

 oblong, 1^ to 3 in. loug, very obtuse or retuse, glabrous above, more or less 

 hoary or silky underneath with short appressed pubescence. Flowers rather 

 large, yellow, pendulous, in terminal racemes about 6 in. long. Calyx 4 to 

 6 lines long, slightly pubescent ; the lobes lanceolate, the 3 lower united higher 

 up than the others. Standard broadly orbicular, 8 or 9 lines diameter. Pod 

 sessile, glabrous, 1 to 1^ in. long. 



In sandy or grassy places near the sea, Wright. Common in similar localities, as well as 

 near the great rivers in tropical Asia, and in the maritime provinces of tropical America. 



2. C. calycina, Schranck ; Benth. I. c. 564. A decumbent or nearly 

 erect annual, 1 to \\ ft. high, with appressed hairs on the branches and 

 under side of the leaves. Leaves simple, sessile, from oblong or lanceolate 

 to linear, 2 to 4 in. long, glabrous or nearly so on the upper side. Eacemes 

 terminal, of a few distant pendulous pedicellate flowers, remarkable for their 

 large calyx, thickly covered with long spreading rusty hairs, and attaining, 

 after flowering, near 1 in. in length. Petals pale yellow, shorter than the 

 calyx. Pod sessile, glabrous, nearly as long as the calyx, with numerous 

 small seeds. 



Hongkong, Eyre, Hance. Common in hot, grassy, and waste places throughout tropical 

 Asia, extending westward into tropical Africa, and eastward to North Australia. 



3. C. brevipes, Champ, in Kew Journ. Bot. iv. 44. A decumbent or 

 nearly erect annual, like the last, but with leaves usually narrower, and the 

 flowers blue, rather smaller, in short dense terminal racemes, the calyx seldom 

 attaining 9 lines in length. In these respects it resembles the C. sessiliflora, 

 a common species in eastern tropical Asia, and which has been gathered near 

 Canton, but not yet in Hongkong. This species has, however, still smaller 

 flowers, the calyx not attaining above 6 lines in length. 



On the border of an estuary at East Point, in a sandy soil, Champion. As this plant has 

 not appeared in any other collection, there is some reason to conjecture that it may be some 

 accidental variety of the C. sessiliflora. 



4. C. albida, Heyne; Benth. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. ii. 567. Stock 

 perennial, often woody, with numerous decumbent or ascending branches, from 

 a few inches to above a foot high ; the whole plant *more or less hoary with 

 closely appressed hairs. Leaves from obovate or cuneate-oblong to linear, 

 obtuse or with a small point, 6 to 9 lines long or rarely above 1 in. Flowers 

 rather small, pendulous, in terminal usually one-sided racemes. Upper lobes 



