From George Bentham   19 November 1863

25 Wilton Place,

S.W.

Nov 19/63

My dear Sir

Since I wrote last month I have received yours of the 14th Augt¹ Many thanks for the trouble you have taken about the £100 for the 2d vol. the Agent here Mr Sargeant had not received any instructions about it by the last mail but no doubt will by the present mail the bulk of which will arrive in a few days.

The "Oxylobium magnifolium" you sent² is Mirbelia racemosa Turcz which on account of the 2-celled (spuriously of course) pod must be retained in Mirbelia.

I certainly keep up Dillwynia — but the absence of stipules is only a general not an absolute character there are 2 or 3 Pultenaeas without and a Dillwynia with stipules

Phaseolus rostratus I had reduced to P. Truxillensis in the Brasilian Leguminosae — I have not yet come to it in the Australian Flora

I have not got on so fast as usual this month as I have had to work up a large number of non Australian genera for Gen. Pl.³ but I have done the Australian Goodia Crotalaria Trigonella Lotus Psoralea and Indigofera and am now at Tephrosia — the tropical shrubby Indigoferas and Tephrosias are very difficulty to make out from the very incomplete specimens — there are many Tephrosias very distinct in stamenal tube style seed etc but many of which I have not both flower and fruit good and I am really puzzled three or four differ from the genus in the venation of the leaves and the foliage is so apt to deceive without examination that I found in your covers of T. flammea two distinct Tephrosias a Cajanus and a Galactia which at first sight looked all the same — I observe you have never worked up the genus a very difficult one.

Clidanthera cannot in my opinion be referred to Psoralea⁴ — the anthers are quite different, there are always 2 ovules and sometimes 2 seeds and the seed does not adhere to the pericarp — besides the pinnate leaves which is exceptional only in 2 or 3 Cape species — but I see no one character to keep Clidanthera out of Glycyrrhiza of which it has precisely the flowers [axillary] fruit and habit.

I will look into Oxylobium alpestre again when I go over the genus with your specimens

Oxylcladium cannot I think go into Mirbelia as from the remains of the stamens in our specimens they are monodelphous or diadelphous — the genus must remain uncertain till we have complete specimens

A case of Acaciæ is just arrived and unpacked yesterday — with 2 parcels for Seemann which have been forwarded and one for I forget who — I had just time to see that the parcels were in good condition — a few specimens of the previous boxes had again grubs in them when unpacked but to no great extent.

As soon as your Podalyrieae and Genisteae are all come I shall begin revising and returning a case or two at a time

Yours ever sincerely

George Bentham

Could not you send us any paper for the Linnean Society? Any of your observations on the comparative vegetation of the different descriptions of country in Australia the forest land the scrub the sandy desert etc would be very valuable⁵

Acacia

Clidanthera

Crotalaria

Cajanus

Galactia

Genisteae

Glycyrrhiza

Goodia

Indigofera

Lotus

Mirbelia racemosa

Oxylcladium

Oxylobium alpestre

Oxylobium magnifolium

Phaseolus rostratus

Phaseolus Truxillensis

Podalyrieae

Psoralea

Tephrosia flammea

Trigonella