PEDKOSIA. 
181 
distinct parallel straight tooth or rather fork towards tlie end. 
Pods tV“¥ hi. thick and sometimes 1^-2 in. long, but mostly 
about half the length of those of P. macrantha, which they re- 
semble otherwise in all respects. Seeds perhaps a little larger 
than in that sp., viz. 1^ millim. in diam., but otherwise the 
same. — A very distinct sp., most resembling Lotus creticus L., 
which is howeyer not a true Pedrosia. 
States of this pi. undoubtedly occur which appear in some 
points intermediate, and may seem to pass into P. macrantha , — 
haying less shaggy silk}' foliage, and forming (as at the top of 
SD. in July 1849) large matted beds like P. glauca. Such are 
perhaps hybrids. But on the humid cold N. side of the rocky 
summit of P. do Facho in PS., bathed in almost constant 
cloud and moisture, P. argentea and P. macrantha are found 
growing intermixed, each in its extremest form of character, 
yiz. with large silky-hirsute, and minute nearly smooth lfts., — 
thus proving themselves to be at least no mere local varr. of a 
single sp. And if the occasional occurrence of an intermediate 
form be held fatal to the constitution of a sp., there will remain 
few indeed in other genera than Lotus or Pedrosia that will 
stand the test. 
6. P. Loweana (Webb). 
Sufffutescent silky white or silvery-grey profusely leafy • st. 
diffuse or prostrate woody slender flexible ; 1. stalked ; lfts. and 
stip. alike linear -lanceolate acute densely silky-hairy • fl. solitary 
axillary sessile subspicate towards the ends of the branches ; pods 
villose very short scarcely longer than the enlarged persistent 
villose equally 5-partite cal. few-seeded linear straight monili- 
form or strangulate, the joints globose ; seeds 2-6 subglobose. — 
Lotus Loweanus WB. ii. 87. Pedrosia Porto-sanctana Lowe 
in Hook. J. Bot. viii. 293. — — ‘ per. PS. reg. 1, 2, cc. Sea- 
cliffs and rocky slopes or hill-sides near the sea almost every 
where in PS., especially near the town. April- June. — Per. and 
more suffmticose in habit than any of the preceding sp. Branches 
numerous from the crown of the root, spreading prostrate or 
diffusely suberect and then distichously branched and elegantly 
feathery or drooping, round and faintly striated, 6-18 in. long. 
Whole pi. thickly leafy clothed with soft dense silky silvery 
adpressed pubescence, except the cal. which are quite villose 
with spreading hairs. L. all stalked ; stip. and lfts. of same 
size and shape, 3-5 lines long and 1-1 1 broad. Fl. dark dull 
blackish purple, not altogether small but inconspicuous and 
buried in the foliage, not longer than the 1., uniformly solitary 
and sessile in the axils towards the ends of the branches. Cal. 
k 2 
