BOSSIiEA ENSATA. S WO RD -STE MM ED BOSSI^A. 
Class XYII. D I AD E L P H I A.— Order III. DECANDRIA. 
Natural Order, LEGUMIN OS^E. — THE PEA TRIBE. 
1. Calyx, showing the Bractes on the Pedicle. 2. Vexillum. 3. Wings. 4. Keel. 5. Stamens 6. Ovarium, terminated by the 
Style and Stigma. 
A dwarf upright bushy Shrub; branches numerous, crowded, branching in all directions, leafy on young 
plants, but leafless on old flowering ones; young branches flat, linear, nearly equal in breadth throughout, 
toothed, of a bright green, at first yellowish ; old ones becoming nearly round, but winged. Flowers nume- 
rous, proceeding singly from the teeth of the branches, yellow marked with a brownish purple. Pedicles 
smooth, producing several bractes at the base, and two about the middle of the pedicle. Bractes small, 
ovate, concave, bluntish, the lower ones smallest. Calyx tubular, smooth, two-lipped, ciliate, upper-lip 
largest, slightly cleft, the segments broad and blunt : lower-lip three-cleft, the lacinise ovate, acute, tipped 
with brown, spreading. Vexillum broad, rounded, with a notch in the centre, and a slender unguis taper- 
ing to the base, the upper side bright yellow, striated with numerous small lines, with a sort of crescent- 
shaped brownish purple mark near the base, which extends up through the centre ; back of the same colour, 
all but near the margins. Aloe or wings spathulate, concave, with a slender unguis on one side at the base, 
yellow tinged with brownish purple or copper-colour. Keel about the length of or scarcely so long as the 
wings, notched at the point, blunt and bluntly keeled, brownish purple or dark copper-coloured, eared on 
one side at the base, with a slender unguis on the other. Stamens 10, connected about half way up with a 
longitudinal slit on the upper side : filaments slender, ascending, unequal in length, attached to the back of 
the two-lobed anthers. Ovarium linear, smooth. Style smooth, ascending. Stigma a simple point. 
The present pretty species is a native of New South Wales, and has been introduced several years to 
our collections, where it has been confused either with B. Scolopendria or B. rufa, but it is very distinct 
from both; we have ascertained our plant by comparison with SiebePs specimens, preserved in Mr. Lam- 
bert’s Herbarium. It forms a handsome bushy plant, and is a free bloomer ; and when covered with its 
handsome flowers, makes a splendid appearance, flowering from April to June, and is a very desirable 
plant for the Greenhouse, being dwarf, and easily cultivated in a small pot ; succeeding well in an equal 
mixture of light turfy loam, peat, and sand; and young cuttings, planted in pots of sand, and placed under 
bell-glasses, will strike root readily.* 
Among the diseases of plants, blight is one of the most important, and at the same time one on which 
a great diversityof opinion prevails. The Greeks and Romans supposed it to arise from the wrath of the gods, 
manifested in some sort of atmospheric influence; and the Hindoos of the present day consider it a judg- 
ment upon the country for the profane eating of beef. Gardeners see it ‘ coming in the air,’ and look upon 
the insects they find soon after devouring their crops as a consequence of the blight; while those who con- 
sider themselves more philosophical observers, laugh at the notion of atmospheric influence, and attribute 
the whole mischief to the entomological enemies of human industry. 
Perhaps both theories may be to a certain extent correct. The state of the atmosphere cannot produce 
insects, but it may occasion their development and multiplication ; just as blight, from the parasitic fungus 
commonly termed rust may arise from the farina of the parasite being carried to the destined victims by the 
wind, at a time when the pores of the plant are more than usually open. In Upper India, where the blights 
from this cause produce all the horrors of famine in vast districts of the country, it is observed that the mis- 
chief occurs during an easterly wind. The particles floating in the air which are carried at such times over 
the wheat crops, penetrate into the open pores, and spreading their minute roots, intercept the sap in its 
Botanical Register, page 51. 
