Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia Part 36

Caesalpinearum genus, Labicheae proximum.

CHAR. GEN.--Calyx 5-phyllus, aequalis. Petala 5 subaequalia, patentia.

Stamina: Filamenta quinque sepalis opposita, quorum tria antherifera, antheris basifixis linearibus, duo reliqua castrata. Ovarium oligospermum. Stylus maximus, petaloideus, trilobus, lobo medio longiore axi incra.s.sata desinente in stigma obtusum simplex!

Frutex glaber, erectus. Folia alterna, pinnata c.u.m impari, foliolis alternis. Racemi axillares, pauciflori. Flores flavi.

13. PETALOSTYLIS Labicheoides.

LOC. "In the bed of a creek along with Sturtia." D. Sturt.

OBS. Eadem omnino species exstat inter plantas in Insulis Archipelagi Dampieri juxta oram septentrio-occidentalem Novae Hollandiae in itinere navis Beagle dictae lectas.

DESC. Frutex facie fere Ca.s.siae et Labicheae. Folia alterna, c.u.m impari pinnata, foliolis alternis brevissime petiolatis oblongolanceolatis c.u.m mucronulo terminali paulo majore. Stipulae parvae caducae. Racemi pauciflori, axillares, folio breviores. Alabastrum ovali-oblongum acutiusculum. Calyx viridis, sepalis subaequalibus oblongis acutis, aestivatione imbricatis. Petala quinque subaequalia, oblonga, flava aestivatione imbricata, sepalis sesquilongiora. Stamina 3 antherifera aequalia, filamentis abbreviatis, antheris acutis bilocularibus, loculis sulco longitudinali insculptis; 2 reliqua rudimenta parva subfiliformia.

Ovarium sessile, lineare, 3-4-spermum. Stylus lobo medio triplo longiore, oblongo-lanceolato, lobis lateralibus auriculiformibus semiovatis obtusis. Stigma imberbe.

OBS. The structure of the style, which forms the only important character of this genus, so far as the specimens enable me to judge, is so remarkable and peculiar, as to render it necessary to state, that I have found it quite uniform in all the flowers I have examined; namely, in four immediately before, and in three after expansion.

PODOCOMA.

CHAR. GEN.--Involucrum imbricatum, foliolis angustis acutis. Liguloe pluriseriales, angustissimae, femineae. Flosculi pauciores hermaphrodito-masculi. Ligularum pappo capillari, stipitato, denticulato.

Receptaculum epaleatum.

Herba humilis, setosa; caule dense, foliato; folia petiolata, cuneata, incisa, setis albis conspersa.

14. PODOCOMA cuneifolia.

LOC. In Herbario D. Sturt absque ulla indicatione loci vel stationis.

OBS. This plant appears to be generically distinct from Erigeron, particularly in its stipitate pappus. The specimens, however, are so incomplete, that I am unable to determine whether what I have considered stem, may not be a branch only.

LEICHARDTIA.

CHAR. GEN.--Calyx 5-part.i.tus. Corolla urceolata; tubo intus imberbi; fauce annulo integerrimo incra.s.sata. Corona staminea 5-phylla, foliolis antheris oppositis, iisque brevioribus, indivisis. Antheroe membrana (brevi) terminatae. Ma.s.soe Pollinis erectae basi affixae. Stigma vix divisum.

Suffrutex volubilis; foliis linearibus, fascicularibus, extraalaribus; folliculis ventricosis ovato-oblongis.

15. LEICHHARDTIA australis.

Doubah Mitch.e.l.l, trop. Austr. p. 85.

LOC. "Common on the Murray and in the interior." D. Sturt.

DESC. Suffrutex p.u.b.escens, subcinereus; ramis striatisnec omnino teretibus. Folia sesquipollicaria, linearia, acuta. Fasciculi multiflori.

Calycis foliola obtusa, p.u.b.e tenui cinerascentia. Corolla glabra; tubo absque squamulis denticulisve, ventricoso; limbovix longitudine tubi, laciniis conniventibus sinistrorsum imbricatis. Coronae foliola e basi dilatata adnata linearia, indivisa. Ma.s.sae Pollinis (Pollinia) lineares.

OBS. Doubah was originally found by Sir T. Mitch.e.l.l, but with fruit only, in one of his journeys, and also in his last expedition; and, according to him, the natives eat the seed-vessel entire, preferring it roasted.

Captain Sturt, on the other hand, observes, that the natives of the districts where he found it, eat only the pulpy seed-vessel, rejecting the seeds.

16. JASMINUM lineare. Br. prodr. 1. p. 521.

Jasminum Mitch.e.l.lii. Lindl. in Mitch. trop. Austr. p. 365.

OBS. In Captain Sturt's collection there are perfect specimens of this plant, on which a few remarks may be here introduced, chiefly referring to its very general existence in the sterile regions of the interior of Southern Australia, and even extending to the north-west eoast.

The species was established on specimens which I collected in 1802, in the sterile exposed tract at the head of Spencer's Gulf. With these I have compared and found identical Mr. A. Cunningham's specimens gathered in the vicinity of the Lachlan, in 1817; Captain Sturt's, in his earlier expeditions, from the Darling; those of Sir Thomas Mitch.e.l.l, in his different journeys; and specimens collected in one of the islands of Dampier's Archipelago. In this great extent of range, it exactly agrees with a still more remarkable plant, and one much less likely to belong to a desert country, namely, Clianthus Dampieri.

I have considered Jasminum Mitch.e.l.lii as hardly a variety of J. lineare, the character of this supposed species depending on its smooth leaves, and its axillary nearly sessile corymbi or fasciculi, which are much shorter than their subtending leaves; but even in the specimen contained in the collection presented to the British Museum by Sir Thomas Mitch.e.l.l, the young branches, as well as the pedunculus and pedicelli, are covered with similar p.u.b.esceuce, and in the same degree as that of J. lineare; the specimens from Dampier's Archipelago have leaves equally smooth, but have the inflorescence of J. lineare; and I have specimens of J. lineare in which, with the usual p.u.b.escence of that species, the inflorescence is that of Mitch.e.l.lii. Among Sir Thos. Mitch.e.l.l's collection at the Museum, there is a Jasminum not noticed by Professor Lindley, which, though very nearly related to J. lineare, and possibly a variety only, may be distinguished by the following character.

Jasminum (micranthum) cinereo-p.u.b.escens, foliis ternatis; foliolis lanceato-linearibus, pedunculis axillaribus 1-3 floris, corollae laciniis obtusis dimidio tubi brevioribus.

17. GOODENIA (cycloptera) ramosissima p.u.b.escens, foliis radicalibus serrato-incisis; caulinis lanceolato-ellipticis obsolete serratis in petiolum attenuatis, pedunculis axillaribus unifloris folia subaequantibus, seminibus...o...b..culatis membrana angusta cinctis.

LOC. Indicatio nulla stationis in Herb. D. Sturt.

18. SCAEVOLA (depauperata), erecta ramosissima, ramis alternis; ultimis oppositis divaricatis, foliis minimis sublinearibus: ramorum alternis ramulorum oppositis, pedunculis e dichotomiis ramulorum solitariis unifloris.

LOC. "In salt ground, in lat. 26 degrees S." D. Sturt.

DESC. Herbacea, vix suffruticosa, adulta glabriuscula, erecta, ramosissima. Rami ramulique angulati; ultimi oppositi, indivisi, divaricati, apice diphylli, foliis minimis et rudimento minuto floris abortivi. Folia sessilia, linearia, acuta, brevissima, ramos subtendentia alterna, ramulos ultimos brachiatos opposita. Pedunculi e dichotomiis ramulorum ultimorum penultimorumque solitarii, uniflori, ebracteati.

Calyx: limbo supero quinquepart.i.to; laciniis lineari-lanceatis, aequalibus, p.u.b.escentibus. Corolla: tubo hinc ad basin usque fisso; limbo unil.a.b.i.ato, 5-part.i.to; laciniis lanceolatis, aequalibus, marginibus angustis induplicatis, extus uti tubus p.u.b.escentibus, intus glabris trinerviis, nervo medio venoso. Stamina: filamenta distincta, anguste linearia, glabra, axi incra.s.sata; antherae liberae, lineares, imberbes, basi affixae, loculis longitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Ovarium biloculare?

loculis monospermis, ovulis erectis. Stylus cylindraceus, glaber.

Stigmatis indusium margine ciliatum et extus pilis copiosis longis strictis acutis albis tectum v. cinctum.

19. EREMOPHILA (Cunninghamii) arborescens, foliis alternis linearibus mucronulo recurvo, sepalis fructus unguiculatis eglandulosis, corolla extus glabra.

Eremophila? arborescens, Cunningh. MSS. 1817.

Eremodendron Cunninghami, De Cand. prodr. xi. p. 713.

Delessert ic. select. vol. v. p. 43. tab. 100. (ubi error in num.

ovulorum.)

LOC. "In the sandy brushes of the low western interior, not beyond lat.

29 degrees S." D. Sturt.

OBS. The genus Eremophila was founded on very unsatisfactory materials, namely, on two species, E. oppositifolia and alternifolia, which I found growing in the same sandy desert at the head of Spencer's Gulf in 1802, the only combining character being the scariose calyx, which I inferred must have been enlarged after flowering. This, however, proves not to be the case in E. alternifolia, which Mrs. Grey has found in flower towards the head of St. Vincent's Gulf: and from a.n.a.logy with other species since discovered, it probably takes place only in a slight degree in E.

oppositifolia, whose expanded flowers have not yet been seen.

In 1817, Mr. Cunningham, in Oxley's first expedition, discovered a third and very remarkable species in flower and unripe fruit, which he referred, with a doubt, to Eremophila, and which M. Alphonse De Candolle has recently separated, but as it seems to me on very insufficient grounds, with the generic name of Eremodendron, established entirely on Mr. Cunningham's specimens. A fourth species has lately been described by Mr. Bentham, in Sir Thos. Mitch.e.l.l's narrative of his Journey into Tropical Australia; and some account of a fifth is given in the following article.

These five species may be arranged in four sections, distinguished by the following characters:

a. Folia opposita; sepala unguiculata. Eremophila oppositifolia. Br.

prodr. 1. p. 518.

b. Folia alterna; sepala unguiculata, eglandulosa; antherae exsertae.