Eryihrina .] XLIII. LEGUMINOS.E. 427 
from the middle ; anthers reniform. Ovary stipitate, with several ovules ; style 
subulate, oblique at the end, with a small stigma. Pod stipitate, linear-falcate, 
acuminate, narrowed at the base, more or less contracted between the seeds, 
2-valved, usually pithy between the seeds. Seeds distant, ovoid or oblong, wjfth a 
lateral oblong hilum, not stropliiolate. — Erect trees or shrubs, rarely tall herbs, 
the trunk, branches, and often the petioles armed w T ith conical prickles. Leaflets 
3, usually broad, entire or 3-lobed, the stipellae usually gland-like. Stipules 
small. Racemes axillary, or, if terminal, leafy at the base. Flowers large, 
usually red, in clusters of 2 or 3 on lateral nodes along the peduncle. Bracts 
small or none. 
The genus is widely dispersed over tropical America, Africa, and Asia, extending into N. 
America and S. Africa. Of the 4 Queensland species, one is a common Asiatic one, the others 
are endemic. The genus is a very natural one and well characterised ; some botanists have, 
however, proposed to break it up into three or four, founded on diversities in the form of the 
calyx and proportions of the petals, which appear to vary so much from species to species as 
scarcely to serve even as sectional characters. — Benth. (in part). 
Stem and branches prickly. 
Leaflets broadly 2 or 3-lobed. Calyx about Jin. long. Standard scarcely 
clawed 1 . E. vespertilio. 
Leaflets entire. Calyx about Jin. long. Standard narrowed into a short 
claw 2. E. indica. 
Stems without prickles and seldom any on the branches or branchlets, 
slightly velvety. Leaflets entire. Pod 5 or Gin. long ; seeds subovate . 3. E. insularis. 
Stems prickly. Leaflets entire, terminal one 7in. long, 8in. broad. Pod 1 
or 2-seeded, 3 to 5in. long, lin. broad over the seeds, prominently veined . 4. E. phlebocarpa . 
1. El. vespertilio (bat-winged leaflets), Benth. in Mitch. Trop. Austr. 218, 
and FI. Austr. ii. 253. “ Goomurrie,” Nanango, Shirley; “ Aranyi,” Batavia 
River, Roth. Usually a small tree, glabrous, the branches prickly, but 
not the leaves. Leaflets broadly cuneate at the base, spreading to 3 or 
4in. in breadth, often but not always broader than long, usually 3-lobed, 
the lateral lobes spreading or recurved, obtuse, sometimes broader than 
long, sometimes much longer than broad, the middle one triangular or 
lanceolate, usually acute, broad or narrow, either longer than the lateral ones 
or more frequently much smaller or disappearing altogether, in which case the 
leaf is divided into 2 long narrow diverging or divaricate lobes. Flowers 
numerous, pendulous, in showy erect racemes. Calyx about fin. long, broad, 
entire or obscurely toothed, obliquely truncate and slit on the upper side. Standard 
ovate, erect at the base, recurved upwards, nearly 1-Jin. long, narrowed but 
scarcely clawed at the base ; wings obliquely oblong, about 4 lines long ; keel- 
petals like the wings, but about 6 lines long, free. Style hooked at the end. Pod 
elongated, torulose, with few large red seeds. 
Hab.: Gulf of Carpentaria, R. Brown ; Endeavour River, Banks and Solander ; Bay of Inlets, 
R. Brown; Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, Fraser , F.v. Mueller, &c.; Cape York, M'Gillivray ; 
Port Denison, Fitzulan ; in the interior, on the Maranoa, &c., Mitchell ; found during the whole 
of Leichhardt's expedition (Herb. Mus. Par.) 
The Brisbane River specimens have usually large leaflets with broad short lobes, those from 
north-west ( E . hiloba, F. v. M. in Hook. Kew Journ. ix. 21), have 2 narrow lobes with or without 
a small intermediate one, the others show every gradation from the one form to the other. — 
Benth. 
Roots eaten raw. Flowers stuck in front of the hair with beeswax as a sign of 
mourning. — Roth. 
Wood of a straw colour, soft and light. — Bailey's Cat. Ql. Woods No. 117. 
2. E. indica (Indian), Lam.; DC. Prod. ii. 412 ; Benth. FI. Austr. ii. 253. 
Mochi-wood of Madras. A very large tree in the tropics, usually much smaller 
in the south, glabrous, the branches but not the leaves armed with prickies usually 
black. Leaflets entire, very broadly ovate, often 6 to 8in. long, the terminal one 
rhomboidal, the lateral ones rather oblique. Flowers scarlet, nearly 2in. long, in 
dense racemes. Calyx broad, fully fin. long, entire or slightly toothed, obliquely 
truncate and slit on the upper side. Standard ovate, scarcely recurved, narrowed 
