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CALLISTACHYS LONGIFOLIA. 
(long- LEAVED CALLISTACHYS.) 
CLASS. ORDER. 
DECANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
LEGUMINOSiE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx bilabiate, very villous ; upper lip bifid, lower one three-parted. Vexillum 
erect, longer than the keel and wings, which are about equal in length. Stamens inserted in the 
disk. Style incurved. Stigma simple, acute. Legume stipitate, woody, dehiscent at the apex ; 
young ones many celled. Don’s Gard. and Botany. 
Specific Character Plant an evergreen shrub, growing four or five feet in height. Stems very strong, 
roundish, covered with pubescence, branching freely. Stipules small, awl-shaped. Leaves some- 
times six inches long, lanceolate, mucronate, reticularly veined, smooth above, downy beneath. 
Flowers in a terminal spike. Segments of the calyx ovate-lanceolate, densely covered with brown- 
ish hairs, persistent. Vexillum large, pale yellow. Wings reddish purple. Keel pinkish. white, 
tinged with purple. 
Among the numerous species of plants raised by Mr. Low of Clapton, in the 
years 1839 and 1840, from seeds collected in the Swan River Colony by Mr. 
Drummond, the plant at present represented was one of the greatest promise ; as it 
was expected, from the description received, to prove a new and valuable 
Chorizema. From the rapidity with which it grew, the strength and height of its 
stems, and the extraordinary length of its foliage, it became palpable ; however, 
long before it flowered, that it had little connexion with Chorizema ; and when 
the blossoms were unfolded, in the summer of last year, at Messrs. Rollissons, Tooting, 
it was at once seen that it belonged to the genus Callistachys. 
As the leaves, which are always particularly long, and sometimes more than seven 
inches in length, (of which, indeed, the outline behind our coloured figure is of the 
natural dimensions,) seem to us to afford an excellent distinctive feature, and as we 
are not aware that the species is described in any other British publication, we 
have thought the name longifolia strikingly applicable. 
Like most of its allied species, it is a rather straggling plant ; or, at least, 
grows to the height of five feet or more, and is not very suitable for small 
