Page:Miscellaneousbot02brow.djvu/714

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698 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BOTANICAL REGISTER.

equidem ob numerum, figuram et vernationem cotyledo- num, petala pinnatifida, stigmatis structuram et stamina subsequalia tribus distinctae initium efformare videtur. Brown MSS.

For the elaborate character which we have given above, we are entirely indebted to Mr. Brown, who alone, in this country, was capable of defining the limits, and of fully appreciating the peculiarities of this truly singular plant.

Bot. Beg. 752 (1823).

Carmichaelia. Calyx cyathiformis 5-dentatus. Ovarium polyspermum. Legumen oligosperrnum (1 — 3-sp.), rejplo post lapsum valvularum persistente !

Frutex ramosissimus, sub statu florescentice scepius apliyllus. Caulis ramique primarii teretes, teneriores v. plano-com- pressi, v. ancipites, stipulis minutis alternatim dentati. Folia e dentibus r amor um fruticis junior is, ternata v.pi?mata (foliolis 3 — 7 obcordatis). Racemi simplicissimi e denti- culis ramorum : pedicelli basi bractea abbreviate apice binis minutissimis. Flores parvi. Calycis denies sub (equates, brevissimi. Petala longitudine subaqualia. Vexillum lamina latiore quam longiore, basi absque callis auriculisve. Carina obtusa. Filamenta 1 — 9-Jid. Antherse uniformes, subo- vales. Ovarium lineare, 5 — 6-spermu?n. Stylus subulatus, adscendens. Stigma obtusum, imberbe. Semina subreni- formia, sinu clauso umbilico nudo. Brown MSS.

C. australis, Broivn MSS.

Lotus arboreus, Forst. Prodr., No. 2, 278.

For the above character of this very remarkable genus we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Brown, who, fortunately for science, is in possession of perfectly ripe fruit. The term replum, which is employed in Mr. Brown's generic character to designate the persistent circumscrip- tion of the legume, was used by Vitruvius for the frame of a door, and we believe has been already applied to the purposes of botanical description in the sense in which it is used here, which is certainly unexceptionable.

The garden plant has been compared by Mr. Brown with the specimens from Cook's ' Voyage,' in his own collec-

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