GOMPHOLOBIUM HENDERSONII. 
(Messrs. Henderson’s Gompholobium.) 
Class. 
DECANDRIA. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
LEGUMINOSiE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx five-parted, nearly 
equal. Keel of two concrete petals. Vexillum broad. 
Stigma simple. Legume many-seeded, nearly spherical, 
very blunt. — Don's Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character.— Plant an evergreen shrub. 
Stem erect, rigid, slightly angular, verrueose. Leaflets 
three, linear, wedge-shaped, recurving at the mar- 
gins with a mucronate reflexed point. Calyx in five 
ovate segments, downy on the inner surface. Keel 
smooth. 
The tribe of papilionaceous flowering plants from Australasia, are now become 
the chief ornament of the greenhouse, for it is upon them that it must principally 
depend for a showy and interesting appearance. The varied order of their inflo- 
rescence, and the difference in habit which they display, are great recommendations. 
Even the form of the flowers, though all partaking of a similar character, presents 
a peculiarly pleasing variation. 
The subject of the opposite drawing belongs to a genus extremely elegant and 
ornamental. G. polymorphum is probably the most universally known of any of 
its members, and is remarkable for the tenuous gracility of its stems, and the bold 
and conspicuous arrangement of its beautiful blossoms, and it is also a plant of 
quick growth and easy culture. G. Hendersonii possesses a character which differs 
I widely from this, though it is no less distinguished for beauty. Instead of shoots 
remarkable for great length and tenuity, it is, on the contrary, a small dwarf bush, 
of a slow growth, and very stiff rigid habit, approaching more nearly to G. erici- 
folia. The leaflets are small and narrow, always ternate, whilst those of G. 
polymorphum are sometimes three and sometimes five. The flowers are scarcely 
so large, but are produced in equal abundance, and near the extremity of the 
shoots. 
Seeds were sent over by Captain Mangles from the Swan River in 1840, from 
which plants were raised in the following spring. Our drawing was made, in the 
autumn of 1842, from a plant which flowered in the nursery of Messrs. Henderson, 
of Pine-apple Place. 
