64 X. VIOLAEIiE. [Tonidmm. 



2in. long. Peduncles axillary, filiform, l-flowered, 2 to 4 lines long, with a pair 

 of minute bracts under the pedicel. Sepals lanceolate, very acute, with a 

 very prominent green midrib, IJ to 2 lines long. Lateral petals rather longer 

 than the calyx, with a broad-ovate falcate base, and a small, ciliate, obtuse 

 extremity, sometimes expanded into a small lamina ; upper petals smaller ; lowest 

 petal purple or rarely yellow, about |in. long, the claw longer than the other 

 petals, saccate at the base, the lamina broadly ovate and longer than the claw. 

 Filaments at least half as long as the anthers, the 2 lower ones with a thick spur, 

 either quite glabrous or with a minute tuft of hair. Seeds elegantly marked 

 with longitudinal striae. — Wight, Ic. t. 308 ; Pigea Banksiana, DC. Prod. i. 307. 

 Hab : Most parts of the colony. 



The species is widely spread over tropical Asia and Africa. 



2. I. aurantiacum (orange-coloured), F. v. M. Herb.; Benth. Fl. Aiistr. i. 

 102. Pubescent with short spreading hairs or rarely glabrous, often woody at 

 the base, branched, 6in. to 1ft. high or rather more. Leaves linear or oblong- 

 lanceolate, 1 to l^^in. long, bordered with small, distant, acute teeth. Flowers 

 axillary, on peduncles of 8 to 4 lines, as in I. sujfruticosum, and nearly similar in 

 structure, but the lower petal is smaller and always yellow, the broad lamina 

 usually shorter than the, long narrow claw, which is scarcely saccate at the base, 

 and the appendages of the filaments of the lower stamens are covered with long 

 woolly hairs. Seeds, in the few capsules I have seen, smooth and not striate. 



Hab.: Georgina Eiver, J. Coghlan. 



3. I. Vernonii (after W. Vernon), F. v. M. PI. Vict. i. 223 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. 

 i. 108. Glabrous, with erect, slender, but stiff stems, little branched, except at 

 the base, and usually about 1ft. high, as in 1. filiforme, but the branches more 

 angular. Leaves all alternate, linear or narrow-lanceolate, rarely above lin. 

 long, and the upper ones much smaller and vary narrow. Peduncles l-flowered, 

 as in I. suffruticomm, but only in the upper axils, and the upper ones longer than 

 the small floral leaves, so as to form a terminal leafy raceme. Flowers blue, very 

 much like those of I. filiforme, the lower petal of the same shape and size, except 

 that the claw is distinctly spurred at the base, and the lateral petals are more 

 obtuse than in that species ; stamens the same, except that the subulate ap- 

 pendages at the top of the anther-cells are still more minute. 



Hab.: What may be a form of this species has been gathered near the Pine Eiver. 



4. 1. filiforme (thread-like), F. v. M. PI. Vict. i. 66; Benth. Fl. Austr. i, 103. 

 A perfectly glabrous herb, said by some collectors to be annual, but certainly in 

 many instances forming a perennial rootstock. Stems slender, but stiff and 

 wiry, simple or branched, usually 1 to 2ft. high, but when eaten down sending 

 up numerous short erect branches. Leaves alternate or the upper ones opposite, 

 narrow-linear, mostly 1 to 2in. long, entire, the lowest ones shorter, broader, and 

 petiolate. Flowers blue, in slender leafless racemes, on terminal or axillary 

 peduncles, always much longer than the leaves, the pedicels under a line long. 

 Sepals shorter than the lateral petals, lanceolate, acute. Lower petal usually 

 fully l^in. long, ovate, narrowed into a concave claw, saccate at the base, but 

 varying considerably in size and breadth ; lateral petals broadly falcate, acute, 

 about 2 lines long ; upper ones smaller. Anthers with an orange ovate appen- 

 dage at the top of the connective, and two minute subulate appendages on the 

 cells themselves ; the two lowest have also a small glandular protuberance on the 

 back at their base. — Pigea filifonnis, DC. Prod. i. 307 ; I. Unarioides, Presl. Bot. 

 Bm. 12. 



Hab.: Common in many localities. 



