80 XIV. POLYGALEiE. [Cwi'sperma. 



Plautarum ") the arrangement o{ the petals is nearer to that of Polygala, but there the earpo- 

 logical characters are yery decided. Besides that, the genus Gomesperma is so natural a one that 

 it is never liable to be confounded with any of those allied to it in structure. The precise 

 arrangement of the petals in the smaller-flowered species, very difficult to ascertain in dried 

 specimens, requires verification from the living plant. — Benth. 

 Capsule sessile. Seeds filling the cells, without a coma. Stems leafless. 



(Sect. Frosthemosperma, F. v. M.) 



Capsule orbicular. Flowers in a short terminal raceme 1. G. spharocarpum. 



Capsule narrowed into a stipes, containing the long coma of the seeds, which 



only occupy the broad part of the cells. 



Outer sepals all free, much shorter than the wings. 

 Branches twining or very short and almost leafless. 



Leaves few, mostly obtuse. Capsule not winged. Flowers blue or 



white. Pedicels glabrous 2. C. volubile. 



Stems erect, leafy. 

 Leaves flat, ovate or oblong. 

 Pubescent. 

 Leaves small, broadly ovate, mueronate, crowded. Flowers 1 to 



IJ line 3. C secundum. 



Glabrous. 

 Leaves oblong, somewhat acute, pale on nnder side ... 4. C pracelsum. 



Leaves obtuse, green . . ... 5. C. retusum. 



Leaves mueronate, very glaucous 6. C sylvestre. 



Leaves linear with revolute margins. Keel-petal not horned . . 7. C ericinum. 



Outer sepals all free, nearly as long as the wings. (Sect. Xsocalyx, 



Steetz.) 

 Stems very slender, almost leafless 8. C. defoUatum. 



1. C> sphaerocarpum (capsule almost round), Steetz, in PI. Preiss. ii. 314; 

 Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 143. Eootstock woody but not thipk, with slender, broom- 

 like, or flexuose stems, sometimes perhaps slightly twining, f to Ifft. long, 

 glabrous and slightly sulcate. Leaves reduced to minute distant scales, or the 

 lo-wjer ones rarely 2 lines long, and linear. Flowers 3 to 6, in a short loose 

 terminal raceme, on pedicels of 1 to 2 lines, the bracts very minute and deciduous. 

 Outer sepals oblong, rather acute, almost scarious, about half the length of the 

 inner ones, which are broadly obovate, blue and petal-like, 2 to nearly 3 lines 

 long. Corolla and style of C. scoparium. Capsule nearly orbicular, about 2 lines 

 diameter, slightly cuneate at the base or at length c^uite obtuse, glabrous. Seeds 

 ovate, shortly pubescent, with a short membranous hairy appendage at the lower 

 or ehalazal end. 



Hab.: Ranges about Brisbane. 



2. C. volubile {iyi\nmgh&hii),Labill.Pl.Nov.Holl. ii. 24 t. 163; Benth. Fl. 

 Amtr. i. 144. A glabrous twiner, with numerous branches, sometimes extending to a 

 considerable length, rarely short and flexuose, or almost erect. Leaves few, the lower 

 ones oblong-linear or lanceolate, sometimes above an inch long and narrowed into 

 a petiole, the upper ones linear or rarely obovate, small and distant. Racemes 

 axillary or terminal, loose, 1 or rarely 2in. long, sometimes 2 or 3 together. 

 Flowers blue or rarely white, on pedicels of 1 to 2 lines. Outer sepals very 

 broad, obtuse, about 1 line long ; inner sepals fully 8 lines long, nearly orbicular, 

 distinctly clawed. Keel- petal with 2 oblong lateral lobes turned inwards in 

 aestivation and overlapped, at least at the top, by the 2 large, obovate lateral 

 petals. Style dilated upwards but not winged. Capsule 4 to nearly 5 lines 

 long, rounded, truncate and often slightly acuminate at the top, nearly 1 -^ line 

 broad, and gradually narrowed into a rather broad stipes. Seeds oblong, the long 

 hairs forming the coma much fewer on the sides than on the edges. — DC. Prod, 

 i. 334 ; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 31 ; F. v. M. PL Vict. i. 191 ; C. tortuomm, Steetz, 

 in PI. Preiss. ii. 303 ; C. gracile, Paxt. Mag. v. 145, with a fig. 



Hab.: Common on the damp sandy land of the southern coast, 

 Var, alba only differs in the flower being white, 



