Arachis.] 
XLIII. LEGUMINOSiE. 
409 
lanceolate. Petioles 1 to l^in. long, silky. Leaflets in 2 pairs without a 
terminal one, obovate, 1 to l^in. long by more than half as broad. Flowers 
axillary, solitary, on long slender peduncles, only the lower ones fertile. Pod lin. 
long, l^in. broad. 
Hab.: Africa, or probably with the rest of the genus Brazilian. Now found in Queensland, as 
in many other parts, as a stray from cultivation. 
This plant is extensively grown in many warm countries as an article of food, and for the sake 
of the oil contained in its seeds (which is largely used by perfumers in the preparation of 
pomades and cold cream, also for soap-making, burning, <fcc.) 
48. ZORNIA, Gmel. 
(After Sohn Zorn.) 
Calyx small and thin, the 2 upper lobes united, the 2 lateral ones small, the 
lowest narrow. Standard orbicular ; wings obovate or oblong ; keel incurved, 
almost rostrate. Stamens united in a closed tube ; anthers alternately long and 
short. Ovary sessile with several ovules ; style filiform, with a small terminal 
stigma. Pod with the upper suture continuous, the lower one much indented ; 
articles several, flat, smooth muricate or bristly.— Herbs. Leaves of 2 or 4 
digitate leaflets, without stipellse. Stipules striate. Flowers in terminal and 
axillary loose spikes. Bracts in pairs, enclosing the flowers, striate and oblique 
like the stipules, but broader and larger ; bracteoles none. 
The genus is chiefly American, one species found also in South Africa, and another widely 
dispersed over the warmer regions of the New and the Old World, including Australia. — Bentli. 
1. Z. diphylla (2-leafleted), Pers. Syn. ii. 318; Benth. FI. Austr. ii. 228. 
A low herb, sometimes annual, sometimes forming a thick rootstock of several 
years’ duration, the branches decumbent, ascending or nearly erect, Gin. to 1 or 
2ft. long. Leaflets 2 at the end of the petiole varying from ovate and only 2 or 3 
lines long in the lower leaves, to lanceolate or linear from ^ to lin. long in the 
upper ones, rarely all ovate acute and rather larger, or all linear. Flowers in the 
Australian varieties 3 to 4 lines long, almost enclosed in the narrow or ovate 
bracts, which like the stipules are produced into a short auricle below their 
insertion, and are often, as well as the leaves, marked with a few pellucid dots. 
Pod longer or shorter than the bracts, of 3 to 6 articles, quite smooth and 
reticulate or pubescent or muricate with hooked or pubescent bristles or prickles. 
Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, R. Brown; Burnett, Dawson, and Brisbane Rivers, 
F. v. Mueller; from Broadsound to Northumberland Islands, R. Brown; Port Curtis, 
M'Gillivray ; Rockhampton, Thozet and others ; Dogwood Creek, Leichhardt. 
The species is common in most hot countries in both the New and the Old World. Of the 
numerous varieties enumerated in Mart. FI. Bras. Papil. 79, the following at least occur in 
Australia : — 
a. vulgaris, Benth. The common Asiatic form, with the leaflets of the lower leaves small 
and ovate, those of the upper ones lanceolate or linear, the bracts rather narrow and flowers 
small. 
b. zeylonensis, Benth. Stems elongated and loose. Leaflets rather larger, all ovate or ovate- 
lanceolate. Bracts rather broad. Flowers rather larger. 
c. gracilis, Benth. Stems more erect, glabrous or hairy as well as the leaves. Leaflets mostly 
lanceolate or linear or even all linear. Bracts rather narrow. Flowers small. 
In all the varieties the pod may be found smooth or muricate, glabrous or pubescent, and in 
one of the forms of the var. gracilis, from Sturt’s Creek, F. v. Mueller (Z. chtetophora, F. v. M. in 
Trans. Phil. Inst. Viet. iii. 56) ; the pods are rather larger and covered with rigid setce much 
longer than in any other Zornia I have seen. — Bentli. 
Var. filifolia, Bail. An erect or procumbent annual plant, the stems and branches very slender 
and densely studded with prominent brown oval glands. Leaflets about lin. long, J line broad, 
with the glands of the stem. Bracts and flowers smaller than in other forms, but very glandular. 
— Walsh River, T. Barclay -Millar. 
In the same packet of specimens were two other forms of this widespread variable plant, the 
one being referable to the var. gracilis, Benth., the other only differing from the normal in that 
the whole plant, like var. Jilifolia, was thickly studded with dark-coloured glands. 
