1 4 - 2 inches long, terete or compressed, pubescent, acuminate. Seeds red-brown, opaque, transversely cylindrical,
oblong, blunt at both ends. Strophiolus large.
G en . X V I I I . L E P TO C Y AM U S , Benth.
C a lyx campanulatus, subbilabiatus, 5-fidus. Vexillum alas oblongas superans. Carina alis adhærens.
Stam in a basi monadelpha, filamento vexillari sæpe ultra medium soluto. Ovarium sessile, pluri-ovulatum.
Legumen lineare, compressum, in tu s sep tis c ellu losis submultiloculare.— Herbæ v . suffrutices, decumbentes
V. vo lu h ile s; fo liis s tip u la tis ,p in n a tim tr if o lio la tis ; pedunculis a x illa r ib u s ; fioribus c a p ita tis v . racemosis ;
pedice llis basi e t in f ra calycem b racteatis.
A genus o f Australian plants nearly allied to Ghjcine (a large tropical genus), of w hich about eight species are
known, chiefly natives o f the east coast, one only being South-west Australian ; it is also allied to Kennedya, but
differs much from that genus in habit, and iu the large vexillum.— Decumbent or tivining half-sbrubby or herbaceous
plauts, with alternate stipulate trifoliolate leaves, and elongated axillary peduncles, bearing long racemes or
heads o f flowers. Calyx campanulate, flve-lobed. Standard broad, larger than the alæ and carina. Stamens ten,
lUadelphous, or with the upper more or less united to the others. P od linear, compressed, divided into many cells
by broad spongy cellular septa. Seeds compressed, rounded, with a small strophiolus. (Named from Xewros, slender,
and Kva^os, a bean ; iu aUusion to the slender pods.)
1 . Leptocyamus Tasmanicus (B en tb . M S S .)j herbaceus, pubescenti-pilosus, p ilis caulibus petiolis
pedunculisque refiexis, caule brevi, ramis breviusculis basi decumbentibus ascendentibus, stip u lis ovatis
obtusis, foliolis obovato-oblongis v . cuneatis obcordatisve subtus ser iceo-pubescentibus, pedunculis elongatis,
racemis 3 -S -flo r is, calycis lo b is brevibus latis obtusis, legum in e pubescente. {Gunn, 2 4 2 .) ( T a b . X V I I .) •
H a b . P astures in th e northern parts o f th e Islan d ; Em u B a y , Eormosa, and Circular Head, Gunn.
(El. Sept. N o v .)
D i s t r i b . South-eastern Australia.
A small species, everywhere pubescent with short stiff hairs, wbich are reflexed on the stems, branehes,
petioles, and pedicels.— short, stout, woody; branches short, 3 -6 inches long, ascending. Stipules ovate,
striate, blunt. Petioles 4 - 2 inches long. Leaflets three, sessüe, obovate, obcordate, or oblong-obovate, covered
below with appressed hairs. Peduncles 3 - 8 inches long, three- to eight-flowered at the apex, tomentose towards
the tip. Brac ts smaU, broadly ovate. Pedicels very short. Flowers 4 - 4 inch long. Calyx viUous with appressed
hairs, lobes short, blunt, with two very minute bracteoles at its base. P od linear, inch long, cuiwed, flat, very
pubescent or almost hispid, three- to six-seeded. Seeds orbicular, compressed.
I have seen but one South-east Australian specimen o f this plant, gathered by Mr. Gunn at Port Philip.
I t is very nearly allied to Leptocyamus Latrobeanus {ZycMa, Midler), o f the same country, which differs in the upper
stamen being united with the rest, in the longer claw o f the vexiUum, and in the longer calycine lobes.— P l a t e
XVII. F ig . 1, flower; 2, calyx; 3, vexiUum; 4 , ala; 5, carina; 6, stamens; 7, ovary; 8, longitudinal section of
ovary ; 9, pod ; 10, seed ; 11, embryo :— a ll but f ly . 9 magnified.
2 . Leptocyamus clandestinus (Ben th . in L in n . Soc. Trans, x v iii. 2 0 9 ) ; volubilis, caulibus filiformibus
iraplexis, p etiolis pedunculisque retrorsum hispido-pilosis, foliolis inferioribus ovalibus intermediis
lanceolatis superioribus linearibus, lateralibus sæpius obliquis omnibus acutis utrinque v. subtus præcipue
appresse pilosis, bracteis setaceis, pedicellis calyce villoso æquilongis brevissimisve, legum ine lineai-i glabro
V. piloso.— Lep tolob ium microphyllum e t L . clandestinum, B en th . in An n . Vienn. Mu s. ii. 1 2 5 . {Gunn,
1 6 1 , 1 9 5 5 , I 9 6 0 .)
Var. a . c la n d e s tin a ; legum in ib u s lineari-elongatis, seminibus transverse ob lon g is tuberculatis.— L.
clandestinus, B en th . I. c. Glycine clandestina, JVendl. ; B C . P r o d r . ii. 2 4 1 .
Var. jS. mic rophylla ; leguminibus latioribus brevioribus, semimbus punctatis ru g o sis v. lævibus.— L.
microphyllus, Ben th . I. c.
H a b . Common in th e northern parts o f th e Islan d , c lim bm g amongst grasses, e tc ., ascen d in g to 3 0 0 0
feet, Gunn.— (El. N o v . De c .)
D i s t r i b . N ew S ou th W a le s and S outh-east Australia.
Root thick, fusiform, elongated. Stems very slender, twining, filiform, covered, as weU as the petioles and
peduncles, with reflexed hispid hairs. Petioles 4 - 4 inch long. Leaflets very variable in shape on aU parts o f the
plant : on the lower leaves broad, ovate, or oblong, lanceolate on those higher up, on the terminal leaves linear ;
4 - I 4 inch long, glabrous, or more or less covered with appressed hairs on both smTaces, acute or acuminate, the
lateral ones often obUque. Peduncles axiUary, slender, very variable in length, 2 -8 inches long. Racemes eight-
to eighteen-fiowered. Flowers 4 inch long. Brac ts subulate. Fedieels as long as the calyx or shorter, sometimes
the flowers are almost sessüe. Calyx covered with appressed hairs. Fod extremely variable in length, breadth,
and number of seeds, 4 - 2 inches long, compressed or terete, glabrous or hairy, generaUy eight- to ten-seeded,
Seeds extremely variable ; those in the longest pods generaUy the most oblong, and covered with large granulations ;
those in the shorter pods more orbicular and smoother ; but aU forms occur indiscriminately.
I am quite unable to distinguish L. clandestinus aud L. microphyllus ; though the seeds ai’e often remarkably
different, every intermediate form occurs, and I find both varieties on the same specimens from Gunn, who however
considers them distinct. There ai'e certainly no constant differences in the hau'iness of the leaves, length o f the
pedicels, and calyx, these characters vai'jing ahimdaiitly in both, aud also in the same specimens.
Gen. X IX . A C ACIA, W illd .
Flores sæpius polygami. Sep a la 3 - 5 , coalita v . libera, valvata. P e ta la æqualia, coalita, rarissime
libera v. 0 , valvata. S tam in a numerosa, libera v . basi in columnam connata. Ovarium se ssile v . stipitatum.
Legumen varium, sæpius siccum, compressum, bivalve. Semina plerumque transversa e t strophiolata.—
Arbores v . frútices {rarissime herbæ) ; foliis p rim o rd ia lib u s v. omnibus p in n a tis , cau lin is in P hyllodine is
a d p e tio lum foU ifo rm em redu c tis V. in k fo yW is n u llis ; stipulis in Tasmanicis m hm tis v . n u l l i s ; floribus
pau cis, c a p ita tis, sp ica tis, v. densissime im b rica tis, f l a v i s ; bracteolis s a p e s tip ita tis , p e lta tis .— B en th . in
Lon d . Journ. B o t. i. 3 1 8 .
This vast and important genus, one o f the largest in the vegetable kingdom, was tlioroughly we ll elucidated
by Mr. Bentham in 1 842, and the result pubUshed in the work quoted under the generic character ; it then contained
about 340 species, o f which more thau half were natives o f Australia. The same admirable systematist has
continued his investigation of the genus, and (chiefly oning to the discoveries in South-west Australia) the Australian
species now number upwards of 260, of which a revision is pubUshed in tbe 26th volume o f the ‘ L innæa.’ Of
these, only one is found in any other part o f the globe, and is apparently tbe A . Famesiana, which is abundant in
the tropics of both the Old and New World. Of the 260 Australian species, 100 are confined to the south-west
extratropical parts ; about 85 inhabit the colouy o f New South Wales itself, of which several spread noi-th into the
tropic, and many into South-east Australia aud Tasmania; 47 the south-east corner of Australia, most o f which
are also common cither to New South Wales or to Tasmania; and there arc 60 tropical species, a few o f which are
also found in New South Wales ; about 140 species are found in South-eastern Australia. Most of the AustraUan
species belong to sections of tbc genus in which tbe leaves are represented by flat düated petioles ; and of these
sections only two or three species are found in other parts of tbe world, and these are confined to the Pacific Islands,
with the exception of one, said to inhabit Bourbon, but which so very closely resembles a Pacific Island plant as to
suggest doubts of its being truly wüd in Bourbon.
The foliage and babit have afibvded Mr. Bentham the only practical characters for dividing this immense genus
into sections ; and these, with his specific determinations, are adopted in the following descriptions of the Tasmanian