CL CHENOPODIACEiE. 
1257 
8. SCLEROL^NA, R. Br. 
(Referring to the dry, hard covering of the fruit). 
(Kentropsis, Moq.; Dissocarpus, F. v. Mueller.) 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth at first nearly glabular, at length turbinate 
or depressed, somewhat compressed, not succulent and usually hard, with 5 short 
indexed lobes, and 2 dorsal opposite divergent spines, either both equal or one 
smaller or scarcely developed. Stamens 5. Styles 2 or rarely 3, connate at the 
base. Fruit globular or depressed ; pericarp membranous. Seeds usually 
globular or depressed at tbe base, with a more or less prominent ascending 
or erect rostellum. Testa membranous. Embryo almost annular, surround- 
ing a mealy albumen, the radicle ascending above the cotyledonar end into 
the rostellum of the seed. — Undershrubs or shrubs, either prostrate decumbent 
or divaricately branched. Leaves alternate, narrow, usually soft and silky-villous 
or woolly. Flowers sessile in the axils, enveloped in cottony wool or soft 
hairs. 
The genus is limited to Australia. It is nearly allied to Anisaeantlia , but the spines of the 
perianth (which I always find dorsal, not terminating the lob s as described by Moquin) 
are two only, and the seed is not so distinctly vertical. — Benth. 
Flowers solitary in the axils. 
Fruiting perianth 1 to 1J line long and usually as broad, tomentose or 
nearly glabrous. 
Leaves narrow-linear, rather acute. Spines 1 to 3 lines long, glabrous or 
nearly so 1. ,9. (liacantlia. 
Fruiting perianth 2 lines long, densely covered as well as the spines with 
long hairs ... 2. ,9. lanicuspis. 
Fruiting perianth 2 to 3 lines diameter, enveloped in a thick mass of white 
cottony wool. Spines f to Jin. long 3. ,9. bicornis. 
Flowers 2 or 3 together united at the base and diverging horizontally ... 4. ,9. biflora. 
Flowers several together united in a hard globular mass 5. ,9. parado.ra. 
1. S. diacantha (spines 2), Benth. FI. Austr. v. 194. A diffuse or prostate 
undershrub, densely clothed with a soft fulvous or white tomentum more silky on 
the foliage. Leaves sessile, linear, mostly acute, very soft, sometimes rather 
thick and J to Jin. long, sometimes longer and narrower, the floral ones not 
broader. Flowers solitary, the perianth broadly campanulate or almost urceolate, 
about J line long and f line broad, the lobes very short membranous and slightly 
indexed, the 2 opposite dorsal spines already long and nearly as deep as the 
perianth-tube. Anthers 5, half exserted. Styles 2 (or 3 ?) very shortly connate 
at the base. Fruiting perianth hard, tomentose, depressed and slightly compressed 
at the top, about 1 line long, and the flat slightly hollow base 1 to 1J line 
diameter, closed at the orifice, the two opposite dorsal spines diverging or 
divaricate, nearly equal and varying in the typical form from 1 to nearly 2 lines 
in length. Seed globular or oblique, with an ascending or erect rostellum. 
Embryo horizontally annular with an erect radicle. — F. v. M. Ic. Sal. PI. 78 ; 
Anisaeantlia diacantha, Nees in PI. Preiss. i. 635 ; Kentropsis diacantha, Moq. in 
DC. Prod. xiii. ii. 138 (both from Moquin’s descr.) ; Anisaeantlia kentropsidea, F. 
v. M. in Trans. Viet. Inst. 1855, 133, and in Hook. Kew. Journ. viii. 204, reduced 
to A. diacantha in Fragm. vii. 14. 
Hab.: Cape River, Bowman ; ArmadilJa, IF. Barton ; Box Forest, Leichhardt; and other 
inland localities. 
2. S. lanicuspis (points woolly), F. v. M. ; Benth. FI. Austr. v. 195. A low 
undershrub or shrub, the stems rather stout and not exceeding Gin. 
densely clothed with a loose cottony wool, more silky and appressed on the 
leaves. Leaves rather crowded, linear, thick and soft, often above Jin. long, 
Fruiting perianth similar to that of S. diacantha but rather larger, 1J to 2 lines 
long and very densely clothed with long silky or woolly hairs, the two dorsal 
