22 



PLATE:220. 



Rhtnchosia oethodanum, Bth. (ex Harv. and Sond. Fl. Cap. ii. 257). 

 Natural Order, Leguminos*. 



An erect branching shrublet, from '-2^ feet high. Stems glabrous below, 

 pubescent, silky-villous or glabrescent in upper portion ; bark light coloured. 

 Leaves trifoliolate, alternate, petiolate, stipulate, subcoriaceous; leaflets elliptic- 

 oblong, oblong or oblanceolate, terminal largest, ma i yins quite entire ; acute or 

 apiculate at apex, tapering to a short and swollen petiolule, finely and appressedly 

 pubescent, or glabrescent, veins and A'einlets very prominent beneath, visible 

 above; lateral ones more or less oblique; 1-2 inches long, -^-l inch wide. Stipules 

 lanceolate, withering, dark brown, inner surface glabrous, outer pubescent ; 1-2 

 lines long. Inflorescence racemose, flowers yellow. Peduncles axillary and ter- 

 minal, ]-6 or 7 flowered. Bracts similar to the stipules. Calyx 5-cleft, pubescent, 

 tube campanulate, lobes subulate, the two upper ones connate at base, lowest a 

 little longer than the others ; pedicels l--' lines long, the whole calyx 4-5 lines 

 long. Corolla papilionaceous, petals subequal in length, a little longer than the 

 lowest calyx lobe, vexillum suborbiculai', emarginate, with two inflexed auricles at 

 base, shortly clawed ; alae oblong, auricled at base ; carina broader than als, 

 curved, clawed. Stamens 10, diadelphous, 9-1, vexillary one free to base; anthers 

 small, ovate. Ovary 2-ovuled, silky pilose, style curved, stigma capitate. Legume 

 compressed, 2-seeded, oblong, tipped with remains of the style, densely hirsute, ^ 

 inch long, |- inch wide. 



Habitat .- Natal : In open ground all over the Colony. Northdene, 700 feet 

 alt. March, Wood. 



Drawn and described from specimens gathered near Durban, March, 1900. 



A common plant in grassy places all over the colony, but most common in the 

 coast districts, the pubescence is somewhat variable, and the young leaves are 

 often, perhaps always silky silvery. This plant and B. ]\'ooLlii, Scliinz, are the 

 only two species of the genus known to us in Natal having a quite erect habit, all 

 the remainder being climbers or creepei-s. It has no known useful properties, and 

 we cannot learn that the natives have any distinctive nauH> for it. The genus in- 

 cludes about 80 species, all being natives of warm climates. 



Fig. 1, a flower; 2, calyx opened out; 3, vexillum ; 4, ala; 6, carina ; 6, 

 Btamens ; 7, ovary, style and stigma ; 8, legume opened out ; all enlarged. 



