Desmodium.\ 
XLIII. LEGUMINOS^E. 
411 
Bracts broad membranous, falling off long before the flower expands 
( Strobilifera ) 
Tall and erect. Leaflets oblong or elliptical, 1J to 2|in. long. 
Fruiting-pedicels mostly in pairs, rigid, reflexed, not longer than 
the calyx 12. D. nemorosum. 
Diffuse and slender. Pedicels mostly solitary, filiform, spreading, 
longer than the calyx. 
Pod-articles thin, strongly reticulate. Leaflets broadly obcordate . 13. I), trichostachyum. 
Pod-articles scarcely separating, very finely veined, the upper 
suture thickened (see below, sect. Nicolsonia). 
Flowers in terminal racemes or panicles. Bracts of the Strobilifera. 
Ovules several. Pod very flat, the upper suture straight, the lower 
slightly indented, and opening more or less in 2 valves (Sect. 
Nicolsonia). 
Fruiting-pedicels short, erect, or nearly so in pairs or clusters. 
Racemes short, dense, in a short terminal panicle. Hairs short, 
usually appressed 14. D. polycarpum. 
Racemes elongated. Hairs of the stem and rhachis long and 
spreading 15. D. trichocaulon. 
Leaflets usually one broader than long. Calyx-teeth and pedicels 
short 16. D. reniforme. 
Fruiting-pedicels slender, spreading, solitary and distant. 
Stem loosely diffuse. Leaves not crowded, leaflets oblong. Hairs 
long and spreading 17. D. Muelleri. 
Stems procumbent, pubescent. Leaves crowded ; leaflets small. 
Racemes filiform, few-flowered 18. D. parviflorum. 
1. D. umbellatum (flowers in umbels), DC. Prod. ii. 325 ; Benth. FI. 
Austr. ii. 230. A bushy shrub, occasionally growing into a small tree, the 
young shoots silky. Leaflets 3, ovate or oval oblong, obtuse or rarely almost 
acute, mostly 1^ to 2in. long, glabrous or nearly so above, pale or silky-pubescent 
underneath, with prominent primary veins. Stipules very deciduous. Flowers 
white, in dense axillary umbels on a common peduncle, rarely attaining |in. 
Bracts very deciduous. Pedicels as long as the calyx. Bracteoles persistent, as 
long as the calyx-tube. Calyx silky, about 2 lines long, the lobes acute, not 
longer than the tube. Standard broad, twice as long as the calyx ; wings much 
shorter ; keel as long as the standard, without lateral protuberances. Pod of 3 or 
4 thickish almost fleshy articles, each 3 or 4 lines long and not so much in 
breadth, not reticulate, indehiscent. — D. auxtrale, DC. Prod. ii. 326 ; Dendrolo- 
bium umbellatum, W. and Arn. Prod. 224 (under Desmodiurn ) ; Benth. in PL 
Jungh. 16 ; Ormocarpum oblongum, Desv. in Ann. Soc. Linn. 1825, 307. 
Hab.: Barnard Isles, BPGillivray ; Port Denison and Edgecombe Bay, Dallacliy ; also in R. 
Brown's collection ; Rockingham Bay, J. Dallachy. 
The species is widely spread over East India and the Archipelago. — Benth. 
2. D. pulchellum (pretty), Benth. FI. Hongk. 83, and FI. Austr. 
ii. 231. A tall branching perennial or undershrub, the branches pubescent or 
villous. Leaflets 3, ovate, obtuse, the margins sometimes slightly sinuate, the 
terminal one usually 8 to 4in. long, the lateral ones smaller, all slightly pubescent 
or nearly glabrous above, softly pubescent underneath. Flowers small, in dense 
umbels or heads, sessile along the branches of a large terminal leafy panicle, each 
umbel almost enclosed in a 2-foliolate leaf-like bract at its base, each leaflet 
broadly ovate or orbicular, | to fin. long and very oblique at the base. Pod 
usually of 2 flat nearly orbicular small articles, glabrous or nearly so except a 
few hairs along the edge, both edges of the pod, especially the lower one, 
indented between the seeds . — Diccrma pulchellum, DC. Prod. ii. 339 ; Wight, Ic. 
t. 418; Phyllodium pulchellum , Desv.; Benth. in PI. Jungh. 217. 
Hab.: N. coast, R. Brown. Widely spread over E. India and the Archipelago, extending 
northwards to S. China. 
