472 
XLIII. LEGUMINOSjE. 
90. NEPTUNIA, Lour. 
(After Neptune, some species being aquatic.) 
Calyx 5-toothed. Petals 5, valvate in the bud, cohering or free. Stamens in 
the perfect flowers 10 or (in the Australian species) 5, free ; anthers ovate, tipped 
with a deciduous gland, very rarely wanting ; pollen granular. Ovary stipitate, 
with 2 or several ovules ; style filiform, with a truncate or concave stigma. 
Lower flowers of the head male or more frequently neuter, with long linear 
staminodia. Pod short and broad, flat, turned downwards, 2-valved, without 
pulp inside. Seeds transverse, flattened, ovate or orbicular, the funicle not 
dilated. — Procumbent or floating perennials or undershrubs. Leaves abruptly 
bipinnate, with small leaflets, either without glands or with a depressed gland 
below the pinnae. Stipules membranous, obliquely cordate. Peduncles axillary, 
usually with 2 distant stipule-like deciduous bracteoles, and bearing a single 
globular or ovoid flower-head. Flowers small, sessile, mostly hermaphrodite, but 
a few of the lower ones either like the others but male by the abortion of the 
ovary, or neuter with a smaller calyx and corolla, and long linear almost petal-like 
staminodia. 
A small genus, widely diffused over the tropical regions of the New and the Old World, 
extending also into N. America. The two Australian species are endemic, and differ from all 
others in their stamens always 5 only instead of 10. — Benth. 
Peduncles slender, 1 to 3in. long. Ovules several. Pod oblong, with 
several seeds 1. N. gracilis. 
Peduncles very short. Ovules 2. Pod orbicular, 1-seeded 2. N. monosperma. 
1. N. gracilis (slender), Benth. in Hook. Journ. Bot. iv. 355, and FI. Austr. 
ii. 300. Stock perennial, often woody, with procumbent or ascending stems of 
about 1ft. or rarely twice as long, glabrous or slightly pubescent. Pinnas usually 
1 or 2 pairs ; leaflets 6 to 20 pairs, oblong-linear, falcate, 2 to 3 or rarely 4 lines 
long ; glands none in the ordinary form, but small setaceous stipellse under the 
pinnae. Stipules leafy, obliquely cordate, acuminate. Peduncles 1 to Sin. long, 
with 2 broad cordate bracteoles, one about the middle, the other much lower 
down, both very deciduous. Flower-head small, globular, with very few of the 
male or neuter flowers at the base and sometimes none at all. Hermaphrodite 
flowers smaller than in the extra-Australian species, always with 5 stamens only 
and few or sometimes none of the neuter ones at the base of the head. Gland of 
the anthers small, sometimes perhaps quite wanting. Ovules 6 to 8. Pod when 
perfect fin. long, about 4 lines wide, with 4 to 6 seeds. 
Hab.: Shoalwater Bay and Broadsound, It. Broicn ; Moreton Bay, C. Stuart; near Warwick, 
Beckler; in the interior, on the Maranoa, <i r c., Mitchell , Leichhardt, and others. 
Var. major. Larger and more erect. Leaves with a depressed gland below the lowest pair of 
pinnae, but less conspicuous than in N. monosperma. Flowers rather large. — Bay of Inlets, Banks 
and Solander ; Rockhampton and Burdekin Biver, Herb. F. v. Mueller. 
Var. villosula. More or less pubescent. Pinnae 3 or 4 pairs, without glands. Flower-heads 
rather large. — Gulf of Carpentaria, Landsborouph. 
2. N. monosperma (one-seeded), F. v. M. Herb.; Benth. FI. Austr. ii. 300. 
Stems apparently herbaceous, but stouter and taller than in N. gracilis (except 
perhaps in the var. major). Pinnfe 2 or 3 pairs ; leaflets 20 to 30 pairs, mostly 3 
to 5 lines long ; gland large, depressed below the lowest pair of pinnae. Stipules 
and bracteoles very much smaller than in N. gracilis and very deciduous. 
Peduncles very short, rarely exceeding ^in. Flowers small, all with 5 stamens 
only, with very few or scarcely any of the neuter ones at the base of the head. 
Ovules always 2 only. Pod nearly orbicular, 9, 4, or rarely 5 lines diameter, with 
a single seed. 
Hab.: Gulf of Carpentaria, Henne ; Blackall, B. A. Banking. 
