XLIIL LEGUMINOSiE. 
412 
[Desmodium. 
3. U. biarticulatum (articles of pod 2), F. v. M. Fragm. ii. 121 ; Benth. 
FI. Austr. ii. 281. A rigid undershrub with prostrate decumbent or almost 
erect branches of 1 to 2 or rarely 3ft., the young shoots softly pubescent or silky. 
Leaflets 3, oblong or on the lower leaves narrow-obovate, ^ to 1 or rarely l|in. 
long, rather rigid, digitate or nearly so at the end of a short stiff petiole. Stipules 
brown, scarious, more or less united opposite the leaf. Flowers small, red, 
crowded or distant in a long narrow terminal raceme. Pedicels short, usually 2 
together. Bracts narrow, acuminate, rigid and striate. Calyx about 2 lines long, 
the lobes rather longer than the tube, the 2 upper ones united nearly to the top. 
Petals twice as long ; wings scarcely adhering to the keel, which has not the 
lateral appendages of most Desmodia. Ovary with only two ovules. Pod sessile, 
flat, silky-pubescent ; articles 2 or rarely 1 , nearly orbicular, not 2 lines diameter, 
reticulate and indehiscent. — Dicerma biarticulatum, DC. Prod. ii. 339 ; Wight, Ic. 
t. 419. 
Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Ii. Brown, Hcnne ; Burdekin River, F. v. Mueller; 
Bowen River, Bowman ; Rockingham Bay, J. Dallachy. 
Common in E. India. Several of the Australian specimens are more erect and taller, with 
longer stipules, bracts and bracteoles than the Indian ones, but they do not otherwise differ, and 
others are precisely like the Indian form figured by Wight. — Benth. 
4. D. acanthocladum (spine-branched), F. v. M. Fragm. ii. 122 ; Benth. 
FI. Austr. ii. 231. A glabrous undershrub or small shrub, with numerous slender 
but rigid angular branches, the smaller ones ending in a fine thorn. Leaflets 3, 
oblong or lanceolate, the terminal one 4 to lin. long, the lateral ones smaller, the 
common petiole short. Stipules small. Flowering branches reduced to axillary 
leafless spines, usually shorter than the leaves, and bearing 1 or 2 pairs or 
clusters of flowers near the extremity. Pedicels short. Bracts very small. 
Flowers about 4 lines long. Calyx-lobes about as long as the tube. Wings 
strongly adhering to the lateral protuberances of the keel. Ovules usually 3 or 4. 
Pod rarely of more than 2 articles and often only 1, pubescent with clinging hairs, 
the upper suture straight, the lower deeply and broadly indented, each article 
5 to 6 lines long and about 2 broad, tapering to each end, flat and indehiscent. 
Hab.: Southern parts. 
This species, different from all others of the genus in its thorny branchlets, is otherwise more 
nearly allied to the section Heteroloma, subsection Podocarpia, than to Dicerma. — Benth. 
5. Z>. triquetrum (branches 3-angled), DC.; Baker in Hook. FI. Brit. Ind. 
ii. 163. Branches triquetrous, soon, glabrescent. Leaflets ovate or lanceolate, 
reaching 6 to 8in. long, acute, rigidly subcoriaceous, glabrous above, hairy on the 
ribs below. Petiole £ to l£in. long, with a wing on each side, like the leaflet in 
texture, 1J to 3 lines broad. Raceme 6 to 12in. long, axillary or terminal. 
Pedicels ascending 1 J to 3 lines long, about 1 ^ line, campanulate ; upper teeth 
deltoid, lower linear. Pod 1 to 2in. long, articles 6 to 8, glabrous or pubescent, 
nearly square, lower suture faintly indented. — Baker l.c. 
Hab.: Southern Queensland, S. H. Eaves (F. v. M. Fragm. ix. 66). 
Also in India, Ceylon, Seychelles, China, and the Philippines. 
6. D. gangeticum (Gangetic), DC. Prod. ii. 327 ; Benth. FI Austr. ii. 232. 
A decumbent or erect herb or undershrub, the large-leaved forms attaining 2 or 
3ft., the small ones slender and under 1ft., sprinkled with a few hairs. Leaves 
all 1-foliolate, in the large forms ovate or ovate-lanceolate 3 or 4in. long, in the 
smaller ones broadly ovate-cordate or almost orbicular, ^ to lin. long. Racemes 
long and slender, terminal or in the upper axils. Flowers small, the pedicels in 
pairs, under 2 lines long. Bracts linear-subulate, persistent to the time of 
flowering, but falling off soon after. Calyx about 1 line long, the lobes longer 
