THE AUSTRALASIAN 
o£ Phavm&Jtg. 
No. 4.] 
APRIL, 1S86. 
[Vol. I. 
DESCRIPTION OF TWO UNRECORDED LEGUMINOUS TREES 
FROM NEW GUINEA; 
By Baron Feed. Yon Mueller, X.C.M.G., M. & Ph.D., F.E.S., F.C.S. &c. 
C-ynometra minutiflorci . — Branchlets thin, subtle-hairy; leaves consisting generally 
of two pair of leaflets, short-stalked or almost sessile, the petiole and rachis 
minutely hairy; leaflets comparatively small, chartaceous, sessile, oblique ovate- 
lanceolar, gradually protracted into a short-bilobed summit, hardly paler beneath, 
glabrous on both sides ; fascicles of flowers almost capitate, emanating often 
from near the base of the petiole ; peduncle obliterated ; bracts minute, 
roundish ; pedicels very short, subtle-downy ; calyces minute, their segments 
almost ovate, glabrous ; stamens ten, about twice as long as the calyx- segments ; 
anthers roundish ; ovary short- stipitate, as well as the style glabrous ; stigma 
not dilated; fruit comparatively small, almost semiorbicular-ovate, oblique, short- 
stipitate, slightly rough, rather turgid, indehiscent, one-seeded. 
In the south-eastern part; of New Guinea ; Eev. J. Chalmers. Leaflets 
of the lower pair usually only about half as long as those of the upper, the 
latter 1 — 1J inches long, and much more narrowed towards the summit. Fascicles 
of flowers reminding of little flowerheads of Acacias ; segments of the calyx not 
fully % inch long. Petals obliterated, unless fugacious, none seen in any of the 
advanced flowers available. Style thicker than the filaments. Fruit resembling 
that of some Grevilleas, though not bivalvular, attaining a length only of J of an inch; 
pericarp rather thick. Seed turgid. The smallness of the leaves, the minute- 
ness of the flowers and the smoothness of the ovary separate this species from 
all others, except C. Travancorica, the flowers of which are also exceedingly 
small; but that species has the leaflets in single pairs and of large size, while 
the ovary is downy and the fruit flat. Should further observations confirm the 
absence of petals in this Cynometra, then a still closer approach to the genera 
Hardwickia, Prioria, Copaifera, Crudia and Detarium would be indicated. Some 
South- American species of Cynometra yield a kind of Capal. 
Pterocarpus Papuanus . — Branchlets almost glabrous ; leaflets often 5-7, thinly 
chartaceous, scattered, soon glabrous, ovate or roundish-ovate, protracted into a 
narrow acumen ; racemes axillary, simple or but little branched ; pedicels about as 
long as the calyx during anthesis ; calyces beset with subtle appressed hair outside, 
only short-protracted at the base ; teeth somewhat deltoid, the lower smaller and 
more acute ; petals glabrous, the upper and the lateral crispated, the two lower 
the shortest ; tube of stamens cleft into halves ; ovary silky-hairy ; style almost 
glabrous ; pod on a stipes of hardly the length of the calyx, thinly silky, all 
around expanded into a broad membrane, with a small sinus in front not far above 
the base of the fruit, the anterior portion cf the membranous expansion also above 
its middle forming a short protruding angle. 
