80 FLORA OP TASMANIA. {Leguminosa . 
densely packed. Cocci three, compressed, laterally wrinkled and pitted, obliquely obovate, the compressed dorsum 
being produced upwards and backwards.— Sieber's specimen is a very bad one, and I cannot be positive of the 
identification. 
4. Stackhousia flava (Hook. fil. Journ. Bot. ii. 421) ; humilis, gracilis, caule basi ramoso, ramis 
ascendentibus tenuibus, foliis anguste linearibus carnosulis acutis, spicis brevibus densifloris obtusis, floribus 
parvis flavidis, calycis lobis late ovatis, carpellis stigmatibusque 2-3. — Hook. Ic. PL 269. [Gunn, 793.) 
Hab. Woolnorth, in poor sandy soil, Gunn. — (M. Nov.) 
A remarkably distinct little species, muchsmaUer, more slender, and smaller-flowered than any of its Tasmanian 
congeners.— Root perennial, sending up many simple stems, or one branching much from the base. Branches slender, 
ascending, 6-8 inches high. Leaves very narrow, linear, £ inch long, often subsecund, acute, dried ones with a 
narrow thickened margin. Spikes oblong, cylindrical, blunt, many and dense-flowered, \-\\ inch long. Mowers 
shortly pedicelled, smaU, i-i inch long. Bracts very minute, three to five, at the base of the pedicel. Calyx-lobes 
blunt, short. Petals rather sharp at the tips. Ovary two- or three-lobed. 
Nat. Ord. XXVI. LEGUMINOS^]. 
This is perhaps the largest Natural Order of plants in Australia, and the species comprising it are 
almost unexceptionally confined to that continent, and to very narrow ranges in it; thus the South- 
eastern Australian Legummosa are different (often generically) from the South-western ones; and the 
tropical (amongst which are several widely-spread Asiatic species) differ from both. The maximum of the 
Order is found in the South-western districts, where also the most peculiar genera occur. About 900 
species are known, of which upwards of 420 inhabit the South-western districts only, and about 200 the 
tropical coasts, including 5.0, which are common to other countries besides Australia. Of this 900 upwards 
of 370 belong to the Podalyriea ; 270 to Mimosea; whilst Genistea number between 80 and 90 ; Galegea 
and Phaseolea each between 40 and 50 ; CasaVpiniea (the most tropical tribe) 30 to 40 ; and the re- 
mainder, Trifoliea, Hedysarea, Dalbergiea, and Sophorea, very few each. 
The Tasmanian species amount to 64, and the Podalyriea, Mimosas, and Genistea stand in the same 
order, as regards number of contained species, as they do in all Australia. Only 14 species are confined 
to Tasmania, as far as is at present known, and of these some will no doubt be found in South-eastern 
Australia. ^ I am greatly indebted to Mr. Bentham for assistance in determining the Tasmanian species, 
and m limiting them I have always followed his opinion. The drawing up satisfactory descriptions was 
often a very difficult task, for, as Mr. Gunn observes in his notes, some of their characters are extremely 
variable ; thus he says that " in the genera Oxylobium, Aotus, Pultenaa, Daviesia, Hovea, Goodia, and 
some others, the pubescence ceases to be an available character whereby to discriminate species, and the 
leaves are in many instances notoriously subject to variation." 
Gen. I. OXYLOBIUM, Andr. 
Calyx 2-labiatus, 5-fidus, labio superiore 2-fido, inferiore 3-partito. Vexillum breve petiolatum, alas 
oblongas superans. Carina oblonga, obtusa, alas Eequans. Stamina 10, libera, filamentis glabris. Ova- 
rium 4-multi-ovulatum. Legumen sessile, ovatum, acutum, turgidum, 1-loculare.— Frutices v. fruticuli; 
foliis sparsis verticillatisve, timpticOus, integris ; floribus racemosis, luteis v. croceis ; ovario villoso. 
A large genus of shrubs, confined to Australia, and almost without exception to the extratropical parts. About 
