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G0MPHOL0BIUM POLYMORPHUM. 
(MULTIFORM-LEAVED GOMPHOLOBIUM.) 
CLASS. ORDER. 
DECANDRIA, MONOCYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
LEGUMINOS7E. 
Generic Character. — Calyx five-parted, nearly equal. Carina eg two , concrete petals. Vexillum 
broad. Stigma simple. Legume many-seeded, nearly spherical, very blunt. Don's Gard. and 
Botany. 
Specific Character. — Plant shrubby. Stems procumbent, twining, very slender, much branched. 
Leaves digitate ; segments five, linear, or oblong-cuneated, mucronate, with recurved margins. 
Stipules very small, resembling the segments of the leaves. Pedicels much longer than the 
petioles, bracteolate. Vexillum large, rich scarlet-crimson, yellow at the base. Wings purple. 
Having been known to British cultivators for a considerable time, and thus 
outlived the usual term of interest in its preservation ; being also of an exceedingly 
delicate nature, this handsome plant was, till within the past few years, nearly 
lost to our gardens. Seeds of it were, however, copiously imported about the year 
1837 by Captain Mangles, R.N. ; and that liberal-minded gentleman has the 
merit, in addition to that of having introduced so many purely new plants, of 
reviving the cultivation of this deeply interesting species. 
From seeds presented by Captain Mangles to Messrs. Henderson, Pine- Apple 
Place, the plant which supplied the subject of the annexed drawing was raised, 
and flowered most profusely in the above-named establishment, in the month of 
May of the present year. Some new varieties, one of which is decidedly superior, 
were likewise obtained at the same time, and that to which particular attention 
may be directed, has flowers of a much richer hue than the original species. The 
rest are chiefly of a lighter colour, and consequently not so showy ; still, they are 
deserving of especial notice, as having all the gracefulness of appearance which 
G. polymorphum so eminently possesses. 
Owing to the peculiar slenderness of its stems, and, what almost invariably 
accompanies such a feature, the similar weakness and scantiness, of its roots, its 
