Polygalece.\ 
THE COLONY OE VICTORIA. 
191 
Abundant in the Sphagnum moors and along the rivulets and torrents of the Australian Alps, at 
heights from 4000-6000 feet. Frequent in Tasmania ; found also on the Blue Mountains of New South 
Wales. 
A handsome glabrous shrub, varying in height from a few to 8 feet. Leaves as well as branches often 
opaque and pruinose; the former usually between 3 and 6 lines long, 1-2 lines broad, usually roundish-blunt, 
sometimes a little acute or even apiculate, the midnerve not rarely almost concealed. Racemes usually short. 
Middle bracteole about 1 line long, more or less blunt or acute; all semilanceolate. Outer sepals deltoid- 
semiovate, about 1 line long. Wings, petals and genitalia very similar to those of C. ericifolium. Capsule 
4-6 lines long, upwards rather more suddenly dilated than those of most other species, the summit apiculate 
and retuse (hence the specific name), each terminal angle protracted into a little lobe with decurrent border. 
Seeds about 1 line long, short-downy and beside clothed especially at the margin and summit with the usual 
long soft straight villi. Albumen exceedingly scanty. Cotyledons elliptical, four times longer than the 
radicle. 
Comesperma silvestre, from Mount Pluto, from the Burnett Ranges and from New England, which 
occurs as well glabrous as short-downy, seems not specifically distinct from the southern alpine form, except 
in slightly pointed leaves. C. Drummondi, which extends in S.W. Australia from the Stirling Ranges to 
E. Mount Barren, differs from C. retusum in slightly scabrid stems, branches and leaves, in a narrower 
capsule, which tapers gradually into a shorter stipes, in narrow-ellipsoid seeds, with shorter villi. Its 
strophiole is not developed. 
Comesperma volubile, Labill. Nov. Noll . Plant. Specini. ii. 24, t. 163,* J. Nook. Flor. Tasm . i. 
p. 31; C. gracile, Paxt . Magaz. v. 145. 
Suffruticose , climbing ; stems and branches tortuous, furrowed; leaves elliptical- or linear-lanceolate or 
linear, distant, flat, deciduous; racemes axillary and lateral, pedunculate; pedicels remote, shorter than the 
flowers; lateral bracteoles more than half as long as the ovate- or lanceolate-navicular middle one; anterior 
sepals free, all much shorter than the generally blue cordate-orbicular unguiculate wing’s; carina distinctly 
tliree-lobed; posterior petals blunt, ciliated; filaments to about the middle monadelphous, thence free; style 
geniculate; capsule oblong-cuncate, rounded or slightly truncate at the summit, gradually tapering into the 
elongated stipes; seeds narrow-ellipsoid, glabrous at the sides; long-villose at the margin ; strophiole ob¬ 
literated ; cotyledons narrow-elliptical. 
In forest- and scrub-country widely distributed not only over the Colony of Victoria, but also over 
many other tracts of extratropical Australia; frequent in Tasmania. 
A truly elegant plant, climbing- to a considerable height, glabrous in all parts, intricately and often 
spirally ramified. Leaves often but sparingly developed, short- or conspicuous-petiolate, flat, from a few lines 
to 1| inch long, 1-4 lines broad, one-nerved; the lateral nerves and veins often obscured. Racemes often 
in great profusion developed, with addition of their peduncle generally from 2-4 inches long. Bracteoles 
less caducous than in most other species; the middle one nearly 1 line long-. Anterior sepals semiovate- 
deltoid, about I line long, somewhat smaller than the orbicular-obovate posterior one, all incurved at the 
margin. Wings 2|-4 lines long; their unguis measuring nearly 1 line, linear-cuneate; the lamina finely 
veined, rarely purple. Lateral petals 2-3 lines long, pale-yellow, not beyond the middle adnate to the 
carina, oblique- and narrow-oblong. Carina at the galea saccate-gibbose, cyan-blue, rarely rose-colored, on 
each side of the latter producing a tooth-like semilanceolate free lobe of about J line length. Style about 2 
lines long, less dilated and much stronger bent than in most other species, stigmatose at the inner angle of 
the truncate apex. Capsule 6-7 lines long, at the upper portion 1J line broad, about three times longer than 
the pedicel. Seeds approximately 1\ line long, slightly rough but not costulate. Albumen hardly developed. 
Cotyledons narrow elliptical, slightly convex outward, about four times as long and twice as broad as the 
radicle. 
