Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/162

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LEGUMINOSÆ.
[Swainsona.

South Island: Nelson—Mountains flanking the Clarence Valley, Travers, T. F. C. Marlborough—Kaikoura Mountains, Buchanan! Canterbury—Kowai River, Haast! Coleridge Pass, Enys! Kirk! Otago—Mount St. Bathan's, Petrie! 2000–5000 ft. December–January.


6. CANAVALIA, D.C.

Climbing or prostrate herbs, often of large size. Leaves 3-foliolate, stipellate. Flowers rather large, in axillary racemes. Calyx-limb 2-lipped; the upper lip large and projecting, entire or 2-lobed; the lower shortly 3-toothed. Standard broad, reflexed; wings shorter, oblong or linear, falcate or twisted; keel incurved, obtuse or obtusely rostrate. Stamens all connate into a tube; anthers uniform. Ovary shortly stipitate; ovules numerous; style filiform, beardless; stigma terminal. Pod large, oblong or linear, 2-valved, with a distinct rib on each valve near the upper suture. Seeds rounded, or oblong, compressed; hilum linear.

Species about 12; 2 or 3 of them, including the New Zealand one, widely spread in the tropics, the remainder mostly American.


1. C. obtusifolia, D.C. Prodr. ii. 404.—Stems long, trailing, glabrous or the young shoots silky-pubescent. Leaflets 2–4 in. long, broadly obovate or orbicular, obtuse or emarginate, texture firm. Racemes few-flowered, on stout erect peduncles 6–10 in. long, usually overtopping the leaves. Flowers pinkish. Standard orbicular, ¾ in. diam. Pod 4–5 in. long by 1 in. broad, the longitudinal wings very narrow. Seeds 2–8.—Benth. Fl. Austral. ii. 256; Kirk, Students' Fl. 121.

Kermadec Islands: Scrambling over rocks and shrubs on Meyer Island, T. F. C. A common plant on the shores of almost all tropical countries.


7. SOPHORA, Linn.

Small trees or shrubs. Leaves imparipinnate. Flowers in racemes or panicles, large, showy. Calyx oblique, broadly campanulate; teeth very short. Standard broadly obovate or orbicular, erect or spreading; wings oblong, oblique, shorter than the keel. Stamens 10, free or rarely obscurely connate at the base; anthers versatile. Ovary shortly stipitate; ovules numerous; style incurved; stigma minute, terminal. Pod moniliform, elongated, terete or 4-winged or -angled, fleshy or coriaceous or woody, indehiscent or 2-valved, each seed enclosed in a separate cell. Seeds oblong to globose, few or many.

Species about 22, found in most warm countries. The New Zealand species belongs to the section Edwardsia, characterized by the short standard, exserted stamens, and 4-winged pod.


1. S. tetraptera, J. Mull. Ic. Plant. t. 1.—A very variable shrub or small tree 15–40 ft. high, with a trunk 6–24 in. diam.; branches of young trees slender, flexuous, often interlaced; young shoots, leaves, inflorescence, and calyces more or less clothed with silky