PLATYLOBIUM FORMOSUM. 
(Beautiful Flat Pea.) 
Class. Order. 
DIADELPHIA. DECANDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
LEGUMINOSiE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx bracteate, bilabiate, 
upper lip bifid, roundish, large. Stamens all con- 
nected. Legume pedicellate, compressed, flat, winged 
on the back, many-seeded. 
Specific Character. — Plant a rather tall shrub, 
evergreen. Leaves ovate, somewhat cordate ; ovary 
villous ; bracteas silky ; stipe of legume shorter than 
the calyx. — Don’s Gard. and Botany. 
Synonyms. — Cheilococca apocynifolia. 
The genus Platylobium , consisting, at present, of less than half a score members, 
was established in 1794, by Dr. Jas. Edw. Smith, President of the Linnaean Society, 
on the species whose representation is now before us. New Holland and New South 
Wales, the sources whence come so many of our beautiful greenhouse plants, fur- 
nish this also ; and although it may be said of its flowers, that they are character- 
ised by the prevailing fault of those of the greenhouse section of Leguminous 
plants— are yellow — it is less the case with them than with the flowers of numerous 
genera and species in the Order ; for, in addition to having the base of their vexillum 
tinged with red, similar to the blossoms of each of the Platylobiums , it is strongly 
coloured on the outside with rich brown, as shown in the plate. Spring and early 
summer is the period when its inflorescence is borne, and it is produced in great 
abundance. 
Disregarding any feature in the character of this plant, but that which constitutes 
it a handsome evergreen, there is sufficient to render it worthy of culture. Its 
leaves are of a peculiarly regular and neat shape, and some of them very singular 
for their large size, considering how uniform they are in other respects. It is not 
conspicuous for any particular style of growth ; the plant which furnished the 
branch our drawing was taken from, was a rather large specimen, flowering in spring, 
in the collection at the Exotic Nursery, with strong central, and many less vigorous 
outer branches, rising from one base, and throwing out laterals abundantly. The 
annual growth of young plants is very considerable, therefore much attention to 
