Some hitherto unknown Australian Plants. 53 



the carma spathulate-obovate, below the middle and at the 

 apex disjointed, \ inch long, with long claws; wings ovate; 

 column of stamens slit in front ; style capillary, glabrous ; 

 stigma minute. 



Mirbelia aotoides. 



Branchlets terete, with appressed downs ; leaves scattered, 

 or fasciculate, linear, entire, scabrous, with refracted 

 margins, and a very short recurved mucro ; peduncles 

 wanting; pedicels solitary or twin, shorter than the 

 calyx ; bracteoles linear, very short, fixed to the base of 

 the pedicel ; upper lip of the silky calyx broad, emargi- 

 nate, or with two very short blunt lobes ; lower lip with 

 three deltoid teeth ; wings about as long as the standard, 

 longer than the keel ; pod smooth, short-stalked, per- 

 fectly two-celled, two seeded. 



On sterile mountain ranges near the Burnett River. 



A diminutive erect slirub, resembling somewhat the smaller 

 forms of Aotus villosa. Leaves 4-6 lines long, i-f line broad, 

 on very short, almost obliterated petioles, not distinctly 

 veined ; calyx about 2 lines long ; flowers seen in a faded 

 state only, apparently of the color of Mirbelia grandiflpra ; 

 vexillum broader than long, smooth ; keel blunt ; ovary' and 

 style glabrous, the latter 1£ line long; pods measuring 

 nearly three lines ; the septa arising from both sutures touch- 

 ing each other. 



This ambiguous species forms a transit to Aotus on account 

 of its bractless calyx, and to Phyllota, which produces also no 

 strophiole. Amongst its congeners it is evidently in nearest 

 contact with Mirb. grandiflora, which seems, according to the 

 figure in Bot. Magazin. f. 2771, to be also devoid of calycine 

 bracteoles, but it differs in the form of the calyx and leaves, 

 and in a smooth ovary. No ripe fruit being found, it is not 

 certain whether the endocarp separates in the manner of 

 other Mirbelia?. In some points it agrees with Mirbelia flori- 

 bunda. I may remark on this occasion, that the genus Oxy- 

 cladium is to be placed in the section Mirbelia?, next to 

 Leptasema, differing from that genus and the allied ones in a 

 persistent replum of the pod, by which an approach of it is 

 manifest to Carmichselia. No species of Mirbelia have hi- 

 therto been detected in the territory either of the colony of 

 Victoria or of South Australia, although many species are 

 known from East and West Australia. 



