Clianthus. | LEGUMINOSAE. 527 
5. CLIANTHUS Banks and Sol. 143A. 
Glabrous or villous herbs or undershrubs, usually woody below ; branches 
weak, ascending or spreading, sometimes almost climbing. Leaves pinnate ; 
leaflets numerous. Flowers large, red, in pendulous racemes. Calyx cam- 
panulate, 5-toothed. Standard acuminate, sharply reflexed over the calyx ; 
wings much shorter, lanceolate or oblong; keel equalling the standard, 
boat-shaped, incurved, acute. Ovary stipitate; ovules numerous; style 
subulate, incurved, bearded below the apex. Pod terete, narrow-oblong, 
turgid, beaked. Seeds numerous, reniform. 
Besides the iJew Zealand species, which is endemic, there is one from Australia, 
and another (perhaps not truly congeneric) from the Island of Ceram. 
1. ©. puniceus Banks and Sol. ex Lindl. in Trans. Hort. Soc. Ser. 
(1835) 521.—A very handsome much-branched undershrub 3-6 ft. high, 
more or less clothed with appressed silky pubescence ; branches spreading, 
younger ones succulent, almost herbaceous. Leaves 3-6 in. long, unequally 
pinnate; leaflets 8-14 pairs, +1 in. long, sessile, linear-oblong, obtuse or 
retuse. Racemes 6—15-flowered, pendulous. Flowers bright-scarlet, 2-3 in. 
long. Standard ovate, acuminate; wings lanceolate, falcate, acute, less 
than 4 the length of the keel; keel large, falcate, acuminate. Pods 
2-3 in. long, turgid, many-seeded.—Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 1775; A. Cunn. 
Precur. (1838) n. 572; Raoul Choix (1846) 49; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 
49; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 52; 7. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 118; Cheesem. 
Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 120. Donia punicea Don Syst. i (1832) 468. 
Var. maximus 7’. Kirk l.c.—Leaflets larger, sometimes 1$in. long. Flowers rather 
smaller. Standard broadly ovate, acuminate, often with a dark spot at the base ; 
wings oblong, broad, rounded at the apex.—C. maximus Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii 
(1886) 294, 
NortuH IstAnpD: Exceedingly rare and local in a wild state, and fast becoming 
extinct. It has been recorded from the following localities, but has certainly disappeared 
from several of them. ‘Small islets in the Bay of Islands, such as Motuarohia Island, 
Banks and Solander/ and Taranaki Island, Colenso. Limestone. Island and McLeod’s 
Bay, Whangarei, Rk. Mair. Great Barrier Islang, 7. Kirk. Thames, 7. Kirk. Flat 
Island, near Howick, 7. /. C., not uncommon in 1878, but has been extinct for many 
years. Mercury Bay, A. Cunn. Precur. (1838) n. 572. Hast Cape district—Anaura Bay 
(Tigadu) and Tolaga Bay, Banks and Solander/ (1769). Still exists on Motu-o-roi 
Island, off Anaura, ‘and East Cape Island, Bishop Williams. Inland from Tolaga 
Bay; cliffs at Tokomaru Bay; Mangatokerau Gorge; Tiniroto; road to Morere; 
cliffs on Lake Waikaremoana, and gorge near the Reinga Falls, H. Hill. Kowhai- 
ngutu-kaka. August—November. 
The brilliancy of the flowers renders this plant a universal favourite, and it is now 
commonly cultivated in gardens throughout the Dominion under the name of “ red 
kowhai.” IJ agree with Mr. Kirk in considering that Mr. Colenso’s C. maximus is not 
entitled to the rank of a species. Mr. H. Hill informs me that in the East Cape 
localities the flowers vary considerably in colour, size, and in the shape and relative 
proportions of the petals. At Tolaga and Tokomaru the flowers are large, and the 
standard very broad, with a whitish stripe on each side near the base. At Waikare- 
moana the flowers are comparatively small and reddish-purple. A white-flowered variety 
is said by the Maoris to grow on the Tiniroto Cliffs. Possibly this is the source of 
the white-flowered form sometimes grown in gardens, which | have proved to come 
true from seed. 
6. SWAINSONA Salish, /GOG. 
Herbs or undershrubs. Stems erect or prostrate, sometimes climbing. 
Leaves unequally pinnate; leaflets usually numerous. Flowers in axillary 
racemes. Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed; teeth nearly equal. Standard 
La 
