470 
XLIII. LEGUMINOS^E. 
[ Erythroph hrum . 
1. E. Laboucherii (after M. Laboucher), F. r. M. Herb.: Benth. FI. Austr. 
ii. 297. “ Ah-pill,” Mitchell River, Palmer; “ Arriga,” Palmer River, 
“ Nau-muta,” Batavia River, Roth. A hard-wooded t.ree, the branches and 
foliage glabrous. Pinnae opposite, in 2 or 8 pairs ; leaflets 4 to 9, alternate, 
obliquely obovate or orbicular, very obtuse or retuse, mostly 1^ to 2in. long. 
Spikes rather dense, nearly sessile, 1 to Sin. long. Flowers 2 to 24 lines long. 
Calyx sprinkled and ciliate with a few hairs. Petals rather longer than the calyx, 
with woolly edges. Stamens more than twice as long as the petals, distinctly 
inserted in two rows. Ovary shortly stipitate, hairy, with about 10 ovules. Pod 
4 to Gin. long, 1 to 14in. broad, flat, with thinly-coriaceous valves. Seeds nearly 
orbicular. — Labouclieria chlorostachys, F. v. M. in Journ. Linn. Soc. iii. 159. 
IIab : Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, R. Brown; Endeavour River, Banks and Sol under , 
.4. Cunningham ; Burdekin and Gilbert Rivers, F. v. Mueller ; also in Leichhardt’s collection, and 
said to be his Leguminous Ironbark Tree. Seeds ripe October. 
Said by Mueller to contain Erythrophlcein, the active principle of E. quineense. 
Gum used for cement and bark for huts. — Both. 
Wood red, very hard (probably the hardest in Australia), close in grain and very durable. — 
Bailey’s Cat. Ql. Woods No. 127a. Used for woomeras and also spear-points, Palmer and Both. 
88. ENTADA, Adams. 
(Its Malabar name.) 
Calyx very shortly 5-toothed. Petals 5, valvate, more or less united or free. 
Stamens 10, shortly exserted, free; anthers tipped by a gland. Ovary nearly 
sessile, with several ovules ; style filiform, with a truncate stigma. Pod large 
and long, flat, coriaceous or woody, the sutures thick and forming a persistent 
replum, the valves falling away separately and divided transversely into 1-seeded 
articles, the endocarp separating from the epicarp and persisting round the large 
orbicular flat seeds. — Tall woody climbers, unarmed. Leaves abruptly bipinnate, 
the pinnte of the upper pair often converted into tendrils without leaflets. 
Flowers small, sessile in long slender spikes, either solitary in the upper axils or 
forming a terminal simple panicle. Bracts very small. 
The genus is common to the New and the Old World within the tropics. The only Australian 
species is the same as the most generally diffused Asiatic one.— Benth. 
1. XI. scandens (climbing), Benth. in Hook. Journ. Bot. iv. 382, and FI. 
Austr. ii. 298. Matchbox bean. “ Barbaddah,” Cleveland Bay, Tliozet ; 
“ Parpangata,” Batavia River, Roth. A woody climber, stretching over the 
largest trees, the young parts and inflorescence slightly pubescent, at length 
glabrous. Leaves usually consisting of a common petiole of 2 to 6in., 
terminating in 2 simple tendrils, which are not however always developed, and 
bearing below them 1 or 2 pairs of pinnte ; leaflets on each pinna 2 or 3 rarely 4 
or even 5 pairs, obovate-oblong obtuse or emarginate, often very oblique, 2 to 5in. 
long when few, smaller when more numerous. Spikes varying in length from 
1 or 2in. to nearly 1ft. Flowers about l^in. long. Calyx very small, truncate 
or minutely toothed. Petals lanceolate, rigid, becoming at length quite separate. 
Gland of the anthers very deciduous. Pod woody, attaining 2 to 4ft. in length 
and 3 to 4in. in breadth. Seeds 10 to 30, nearly 2in. diameter. — Mimosa 
scandens, Linn. Sp. PL 1101 ; Entada Purscetha, DC. Prod. ii. 425 ; Miq. FI. Ind. 
Bat. i. part i. 45. 
Hab.: From the Pioneer River to Cape York. 
The species is widely diffused over tropical Asia and Africa and the West Indies, the seeds 
being carried very far by ocean currents without losing their power of germination. The opinion 
now generally adopted that the East and West Indian species are the same is, however, not 
universally admitted ; and our herbarium specimens, numerous as they are, are mostly too 
imperfect, the foliage, flowers, and pods too rarely matched to determine the auestion with any 
approach to certainty. — Benth. 
Natives of North Queensland eat the beans, which are first roasted or baked, then pounded, 
put in a dilly-bag, and left for 10 or 12 hours in water before being eaten .-^Palmer. 
