174 
25 . LEGOIINOSyE. 
Linn.). — ~ subper. Mad. reg. 1, cc; PS. reg. 1, rr; ND. ccc; 
GD. c ; SD. £. Sea-cliffs, rocky slopes and borders of the beach 
almost everywhere along the S. coast of Mad., as e. g. at the 
Gorgulho and P ta da Cruz near Funchal, and on P ta de S. Lou- 
ren 90 chiefly beyond Labra ; forming on the Ilheo dos Embarca- 
dores and I. de Fora as on the N. and S. Desertas large dense 
mats or beds of herbage, and brought by boatloads for fodder to 
Machico. In PS. on the headland called Malhado or P ta de Guil- 
herme on the N. coast. Spr. chiefly Marcli-June, but occasion- 
ally throughout the year. — Root tap-shaped strong woody white 
scarcely more than biennial. Branches thin and wiry tough but 
flexible very numerous and entangled, spreading flat all round 
from the crown of the root, and forming a thickly leafy mat 1- 
3 ft. in diam. of a dull glaucous grey enamelled with the numerous 
little umbels of conspicuous bright-y. or or. fl. Pubescence thick- 
set and close-pressed yet fine and short. Lfts. crowded very 
small and short, obtuse or rounded at top and attenuated at the 
base, 1-2 lines long and half as broad the midrib never excur- 
rent ; stip. exactly similar to them in size and shape. Petioles 
mostly ^-1 line long though sometimes all or almost all the 1. are 
nearly or quite sessile with the petiole scarcely or not longer than 
broad. Ped. about £ or £ in. long, rarely more, with a 3-foliate 
sessile fl.-br. at top close below the mostly 2-4-, often 1-, very 
rarely 5-fl. head or umbel. Fl. rather larger than those of L. cor- 
niculatus L., deep golden-y. or or. and streaked more or less with 
reddish, often varied with or fading into dark rich saffron-brown. 
Cal. -tube purple; sep. lanceolate f, the 2 upper larger broader 
and longer, all stellate in the bud. Pods i-1 in. long, £-1 line 
thick slender strongly moniliform or beaded and here and there 
irregularly strangulate. Seeds 10-30, mostly 12-20, very small, 
1 millim. diam. quite globose smooth and shining, very dark 
plain coffee-brown or almost black. 
The pointed appearance and lanceolate or elliptic shape of the 
lfts. in certain depauperated altogether sessile-leaved states of 
this pi. from hot dry situations, is merely caused by their edges 
having become unnaturally revolute from heat or drought. 
/3. dubia ; somewhat grever or more hoary than a, but not 
silky-villose ; 1. chiefly stalked ; lfts. and stip. elliptic or obovate- 
lanceolate acute. — Mad. reg. 1 , rr. P ta de S. Loureinjo on the Ilheo 
dos Embarcadores, a few pi. only, growing amidst a profusion of 
rank luxuriant pi. of a. intricata , March, April, 1801. — Lfts. 1-2 
lines long and half as broad above their middle, almost all de- 
cidedly acute. Nearly all the 1. distinctly stalked, with petioles 
a line long. All the rest exactly as in a, between which and 
P.Jlorida it is a truly intermediate form. Indeed it is a very 
nice point to determine whether it should be affixed to P.glauca 
