NATIVE FLORA OF TROPICAL QUEENSLAND. 419 



tion of New South Wales. When writing of the genus, 

 Bentham states: — "Leaflets either two distinct from the 

 base, or (in the majority of species not Australian) united 

 into an entire or two-lobed leaf, with five to eleven digitate 

 nerves." He also says : — "The following Australian species 

 (3), all endemic, with one or two nearly allied Asiatic ones, 

 form a small group, with the two leaflets quite distinct." 1 



In this connection it is of interest to note that although 

 most of the Australian species have their leaflets distinct 

 from the base, yet the primary leaf of a seedling recently 

 raised from the seed of an undetermined Bauhinia, collected 

 near Barcaldine in Central Queensland by Sir William Oullen, 

 was simple and bi-lobed, the leaflets being united for the 

 greater portion of their length. The leaflets of the second 

 and all subsequent leaves were distinct. The fact of this 

 primary leaf being bi-lobed goes to show that this is an 

 ancestral character, and the development of separate 

 leaflets is another of the various forms of specialising 

 resorted to by Australian plants. 



B. Haivkesiana Bailey, is a Queensland' species with the 

 leaflets united, described since Bentham wrote the Flora 

 Australiensis. 



Lubbock records a seedling of B. Carronll as having the 

 primary and all subsequent leaves divided into two distinct 

 leaflets. 2 



Erytlirophlceum Laboucherii, commonly called Ironwood 

 around the Gulf of Carpentaria, is the "Leguminous Iron- 

 bark " of Leichhardt. The wood of this species is exceed- 

 ingly hard, and it is a well known fact that it was used by 

 the natives for the making of weapons, examples of which 

 are now in many collections. In August 1913 a native at 



1 " Flora Australiensis," Vol. n, p. 295. 



2 "A Contribution to our Knowledge of Seedlings," by Sir John Lubbock, 

 Vol. i, p. 464. 



