PolygalecB^ FLORA OF TASMANIA. 31 
raniosa, foliis radicalibus transverse orbiculari-oblongis securidiformibusve, caulinis crebris (ratione plant* 
majusculis) lunatis, racemis 3-i-fioris, ramulis axflkribofl terminalibusque eontinuis, sepalis ovatis ciliatis 
dorso appresse villosis, seminibus ellipsoideis utrinquc truncal is ecamlatis, teste solida. 
(Tab. VI.) 
Hab. Marshy places, Formosa, Georgetown, and Lake St. Clair.— (Fl. Oct. to Dec.) (Giant.) 
Disteib. South-eastern Australia. 
A much shorter, stouter, and more leafy plant than any other of the same section in Tasmania.— Stems 3-5 
inches long, branching nearly from the base. Leaves rather crowded, radical ones with petioles an inch long, and 
an axe-shaped lamina; cauline lunate. Racemes abbreviated Flowers as in D. pellata, large and white. Ful'uu/, 
pale green.— Plate VI. Fig. 1, flower; 2, petal; 3, stamen; 4, ovary; 5, seed; 6, longitudinal section of seed; 
7, embryo: — all magnified. 
Nat. Ord. VIII. POLYGALEiE. 
The Australian Polygalea, of which there are about twenty-live known species, are, with few exceptions, 
members of one endemic genus, Gom&perma: the exceptions are three species of Pofyyla, whereof two 
are perhaps Indian, and one is apparently peculiar to the tropical parts of the Continent. The Order is 
unknown in New Zealand. Of Cometperma alone, about twenty-five species are known; they an- preth 
equably diffused throughout the extratropical parts of the continent and of Tasmania. 
Gen. I. COMESPEKMA, Lab. 
Sepala 5, decidua, 2 interiora ataformia maxima. Petala 3, in corollam gamopetalam 3-lobara 
coalita, petalis lateralibus parvis, lobo medio imberbi integro v. emarginato. Stamina 8, plus minusve mon- 
adelpha. Ant/tera poro dehiscentes. Ovarium 2-loculare, loculis 1-ovulatis, stylo curvato deciduo, stigmate 
bilobo. Capsula cuneato-spathulata, 2-valvis. Senina 2, apice loculi pendula, comosa, carunculata. Em- 
bryo axi albuminis carnosi mucilaginosi orthotropus. 
Erect or chmbing herbs or shrubs, often small, with entire, alternate, exstipulate leaves and panicles of irre- 
gular flowers. — Calyx of five deciduous sepals, two interior very large. Petals combined into a tripartite corolla, 
with the middle lobe beardless, entire or emarginate. Stamens eight, more or less united. Capsule bilocular, obcor- 
date or spathulate. Seeds solitary, with a long delicate tuft of hairs. (Name from xofir,, hair, and (mtptm, a seed.) 
1. Comesperma volubile (Lab. Nov. HoU. ii. 21. t. 163); herbaceum, glabrum, volubile, foliis 
paucis linearibus lanceolatisve. — DC. Prodr. i. 334 ; Rook. Comj). Pot. Mag. i. 248 ; Steetz, Plant. Preiss. 
ii. 303. {Gun*, 147.) 
Hab. Throughout the Island, abundant in a light soil, climbing over bushes, etc., Gunn.— (Fl. Oct.) 
[v. v.) 
Distrib. Extratropical East, West, and Southern Australia, abundant. 
This is one of the most beautiful and gracefid plants in the Colony, well known as the "Blue creeper." It 
climbs four to six feet, and covers bushes with its beautiful bright pale-blue blossoms, which occasionally vary to 
white and lilac. — Stems as thick as a crow-quill, apparently climbing either to the right or left, but the first direction 
taken by the young stem or plumule is not known. Leaves scattered, acute, entire, petiolate, linear-lanceolate or 
oblong, i-1 inch long, entire. Racemes terminating short, axillary and lateral branches, 3-10-flowered. Pedicels 
2-3 lines long, with a small concave bract at the base. Flowers variable in size (whence the var. fi mkrantha, 
Steetz, 1. c). Sepals three ; outer rounded, membranous, entire, with parallel veins ; two inner three times longer, 
