PLATE 350. 
LoTONONis Wylei, J. M. Wood, n~ sp. 
Natural Order, LeguminoS/E. 
A much-branclied, densely-leat'y nndershrub, reaching to 4 or 5 feet in height, 
and bearing a profusion of blue flowers. Stems and Ijranches finely and closely 
silky pubescent with minute white hairs. Leaves trifoliate, petiolate, stipulate ; 
leaflets oblanceolate, mucronate, entire, subsessile, ^ to I inch long, 1 to 2^ lines 
wide in centre, pubescent with silky white hairs above, more densely so beneath ; 
petiole |- to f inch long, pilose ; stipules in pairs; resembling the leaflets, oblong, 2 
to -t lines long. Flowers axillary or terminal on the short branchlets, in 4 to 5 
flowered racemes or solidary ; peduncles ^ to 1 inch long, pubescent, pedicels 2 to 
3 lines long. Calyx gamosepalous, silky, tube campanulate, limb unequally 5-fid, 
the lowest segment longer than the others, equalling calyx tube, the 4 upper ones 
connate in two 2-fid pairs; all acute. Corolla papilionaceous; vexillum broadly 
rotund, silky pubescent externally; alae oblong, auricled, cross-ridged on face, shorter 
than vexillum ; carina obtuse, equalling vexillum. Stamens monadelphous in a split 
tube; anthers dissimilar, alternate ones shorter and versatile, others longer and 
basifixed. Ovary subsessile, pilose, many ovuled ; style curved ; stigma oblique, 
capitate. Legume narrowly linear, pilose, acute, straight, 1 inch long, slightly 
compressed, subtended b}^ the persistent calyx ; seeds glabrous, subglobose, light 
brown. 
Habitat: Natal: Entumeni, Zululand, 2-3000 feet alt, April, ./. Wylie {Wood, 
No. 8962) ; same locality, March, /. Wylie {Wood, No. 9442). 
This plant was first gathered by Mr. Jas. Wylie, now Curator of the Durban 
Botanic Gardens, and so far as at present known it is confined to the locality given 
above. The aspect of the plant is very much that of a Crotalaria, but the pod is 
not inflated, and the flowers are blue, not yelhnv, as in most of the Natal Crota- 
larias. It is very floriferous and well worth cultivation. 
Fig. 1, calyx opened ; 2, vexillum ; 3, ala ; 4, carina; 5, stamens; 6, ovary, 
style, and stigma ; 7, young legume ; 8, valve of legume with immature seeds ; all 
except Fig. 7 enlarged. 
