338 
XLIII. LEGUMIN0S2E. 
3. CHORIZEMA, Labill. 
(This name is meant to express that M. Labillardiere and party were ready to 
dance for joy for having, just at the time of finding the first of this genus, 
also fallen in with fresh water of which they were in search). 
(Orthotropis, Benth.) 
Calyx-lobes nearly of equal length, the 2 upper ones usually broader and united 
higher up. Petals clawed ; standard orbicular or reniform, emarginate, rather 
longer than the wings ; wings oblong ; keel much shorter than the wings, straight 
and obtuse or with an erect point, or rarely incurved. Stamens free. Ovary 
sessile or stipitate, with numerous or rarely 8 to 10 ovules ; style usually short, 
incurved ; stigma terminal, frequently oblique. Pod ovoid, turgid or compressed, 
continuous inside. Seeds not strophiolate. — Shrubs or undershrubs. Leaves all 
alternate (except in C. ericifolium), simple, entire or prickly-toothed. Stipules 
small, setaceous, sometimes wanting. Flowers usually orange or red, in terminal 
racemes or rarely axillary. Pedicels short, with 2 small bracteoles, usually 
deciduous. Ovary villous. 
The genus is exclusively Australian. It differs from Oxylobium chiefly in habit and in the 
short or acuminate keel ; the pod is also usually less turgid. — Benth. 
1. C. parviflorum (small flowered), Benth. in Ann. Wien. Mas. ii. 71, and 
FI. Amtr. ii. 30. An undershrub, with a thick rhizome, and numerous 
ascending, rather slender, angular, striate stems, of about 1ft., glabrous or 
slightly pubescent. Leaves not numerous, linear, and above lin. long, or shorter 
and oblong, obtuse or mucronate, the margins recurved. Flowers small, on very 
short pedicels, in rather long, slender, terminal racemes. Calyx 1^ line long, 
slightly pubescent, the lobes shorter than the tube, the two upper ones broad, 
truncate and united nearly to the top. Standard very broad, twice as long as the 
calyx ; wings shorter ; keel much shorter, broad and obtuse. Ovary very shortly 
stipitate, with about 10 ovules ; style slightly incurved, with a capitate stigma. 
Pod oblique, often broader than long, very turgid, 3 to 4 lines diameter. — 
C. pultenea, F. v. M. Fragm. iv. 19, but not the synonyms adduced. 
Hab.: Keppel Bay. R.Broicn; E. coast, A. Cunningham; Wide Bay, Bidwill, Leichhardt; 
Stradbroke Island, Fraser ; S. tributaries of Burnett River and Brisbane River, F. v. Mueller. 
Flowering from June to November. 
4. MIRBELIA, Sm. 
(After C. F. B. Mirbel.) 
(Dichosema, Benth.; Oxycladium, F. v. M.) 
Calyx-lobes nearly of equal length, the two upper ones often broader and 
united higher up. Petals clawed ; standard orbicular or reniform, emarginate 
or entire, longer than the lower petals ; wings oblong ; keel broader than the 
wings, and shorter or rarely of the same length. Stamens free. Ovary sessile 
or stipitate with 2 or several ovules ; style usually short, incurved, with a 
terminal capitate stigma. Pod ovoid or oblong, turgid, divided longitudinally 
into 2 cells by a false dissepiment projecting into the cavity from the lower 
suture and overlapped by or connate with the projecting placentas. Seeds 
without any strophiole.- — Shrubs with the habit nearly of Oxylobium or of 
Chorizema. Leaves opposite verticillate or alternate, simple entire or prickly- 
toothed. Stipules small, setaceous or none. Flowers yellow, purple-red or blue, 
solitary or clustered in the axils of the leaves, or in axillary or terminal racemes. 
Bracts and bracteoles small or none. Ovary glabrous or villous. Endocarp of 
the pod separating from the epicarp in some species, but not in all. 
The genus is limited to Australia. It is very nearly allied to Oxylobium, Gastrolobium, and 
Chorizema, differing chiefly in the remarkable 2-celled pod, the false dissepiment being already 
more or less apparent in the ovary at the time of flowering. — Benth. 
