loos LXXX. ASCLEtlADEJ;. [Cynattchum. 



to them forming prominent keels. Pollen-masses oblong. Follicles fusiform, 

 acuminate, more or less -p^inged, 1 to 2in. long. — Cynoctonum Jioribundum., Done, 

 in DC. Prod. viii. 629. 



Hab.: Wentworth and Gilbert Eivers, F. v. Mueller; Suttor River and Broadsound, Bowman. 



Pods and leaves full of milk, eaten raw when young. Said to fatten the natives. — Palmer. 



The species is very variable in the breadth of the leaves, the size of the flowers, and the 

 pubescence of the inflorescence, but readily recognised by the proininent subulate points of the 

 corona-lobes. — Benth. 



3. C. pedunculatum (peduncles prominent), R. Br. Prod. 463 ; Benth. 

 Fl. Austr. iv. 838. A twiner, either glabrous or the inflorescence minutely 

 pubescent. Leaves on rathp.r long petioles, deeply cordate, ovate, acuminate, 

 1^ to 2^ih. long, usually with 2 small accessory stipule-like leaves at their 

 base on the side opposite to the peduncle. Cymes several-flowered, on peduncles 

 often as long as the leaves or even longer. Calyx-segments narrow, acute, about 

 half as long as the corolla. Corolla deeply divided into narrow rather acute 

 lobes of 2 to 8 lines. Corona shortly 20-lobed, 10 outer lobes short obtuse or 

 denticulate or some of them shortly acuminate, the 10 inner keels in pairs one on 

 each side of the lobes opposed to those of the corolla, more or less acuminate and 

 usually longer than the outer. Fruit not seen. — Cynoctonum pedunculata, Dene, 

 in DC. Prod. viii. 529. 



Eab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, R. Brown. 



8. SARCOSTEMMA, R. Br. 



(Corona fleshy.) 

 Corolla rotate or nearly so, the lobes contorted in the bud, the right-hand 

 edge overlapping. Corona double, the outer one annular or cup-shaped, usually 

 at the base of the gynostegium, the inner one of 5 segments at the bact of the 

 anthers, fleshy or saccate at the base, With a free erect point. Anthers 

 terminating in a membrane; Pollen-masses 2 to each anther, oblong or clavate, 

 pendulous. Stigma short, obscurely notched. — Stems in the Australian typical 

 section leafless and somewhat fleshy. Flowers in sessile lateral umbels. 



The genus in its typical form ia spread over tropical Asia and southern and eastern Africa, 

 the Australian species is endemic, but nearly allied to a widely spread Asiatic one. The other 

 sections, in which the stems are leafy, are limited to South America. — Benth. 



1. S. australe (southern), R. Br. Prod. 463 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. iv. 328. 

 Caustic Vine. A glabrous leafless somewhat fleshy twiner, woody at the base, 

 the branches terete, often, articulate at the nodes, the leaves replaced by minute 

 opposite scales. Umbels sessile on one side of the nodes between the scales. 

 Pedicels about Jin. long. Calyx-segments ova.te, obtuse, scarcely ^ line long. 

 Corolla deeply divided into ovate obtuse lobes of about 2 lines. Outer corona 

 adnate to the base of the gynostegium and about half its length, much undulate 

 and sinuate but not lobed ; segments of the inner corona saccate, nearly as long 

 as the anthers. Follicles rather narrow, 2 to Sin. long. — Endl. Iconogr. t. 64. 



Hab.: Albany Island, W.Hill; E. coast, 2J. 5ro!D7i; Curtis Island, Hermc ; Howick's Group, 

 F.V.Mueller; Port Denison, FiJ^aZora ; dry ridges near Rockhampton, Dallachy, O'Shanesy; 

 common in the colony and often extending inland. 



Coiisidered poisonous to sheep. 



9. PENTATROPIS, R. Br. 



(Referring to the 5-anther spurs.) 



(Ehyncharrhena, P. v. M.) 



Corolla nearly rotate, the lobes contorted in the bud (the right-hand edge 



usually overlapping). Corona double, the outer one of a slightly prominent 



ring or 5 scarcely conspicuous obtuse lobes at the base of the gynostegium or 



