Kennedya
(named after an English nurseryman). Including. Zichya. ORD. Leguminosae. A genus of eleven species of twining or prostrate, greenhouse perennials, from Australia. Flowers red or nearly black, on axillary peduncles, racemose, sub-umbellate or solitary. Legumes linear, compressed. Leaves pinnate, trifoliolate, rarely one or five-foliolate, stipellate; stipules broad, striated, sometimes very broad and connate. Kennedyas are fast-growing plants, well adapted for training up greenhouse pillars or rafters. They may be readily propagated from seeds, which are usually produced in great abundance, and may be sown in spring or summer; or from cuttings of rather firm side shoots, inserted at the same season, in peaty soil, and placed in a close, warm frame. Kennedyas may be grown in pots and trained over trellises if desired, but they succeed better when planted out, in a greenhouse, in a compost of peat and loam. Plenty of water should be given in spring and summer, but not much will be necessary in winter, when the plants are at rest. An ordinary greenhouse temperature will be sufficiently high. Insects, especially Scale and Mealy Bug, are frequently very troublesome, and as the numerous growths become so much entwined, it is difficult to effect a clearance. Taking the whole plant down, and thoroughly cleansing it with an insecticide before being replaced, is the best plan. An occasional syringing with petroleum and water proves a good preventive against the attacks of Bug. K. prostrata Marryattae is one of the best of greenhouse twining plants, and, as its leaves and stems are downy, it is seldom attacked by insects of any description.
K. coccinea (scarlet). fl. scarlet; peduncles bearing three to nine flowers, in an umbellate head. May to August. l. having three obovate leaflets; stipules lanceolate, spreading. 1803. SYN. K. inophylla. K. Comptoniana. See Hardenbergia Comptoniana.
K. cordata. See Hardenbergia monophylla.
K. eximia (choice). fl. scarlet, two, three, or more together in an umbel or very short raceme. l., leaflets three, ovate or obovate, very obtuse. Plant prostrate or twining. (P. M. B. xvi. 35.) K. glabrata (glabrous). fl. scarlet, several together in a small umbel, on axillary peduncles. l., leaflets three, cuneate or obovate-truncate, mucronate; stipules broad, veined. A slender, twining, glabrous species. (B. M. 3956; B. R. 1838.) K. inophylla (nerve-leaved). A synonym of K. coccinea. K. longiracemosa. See Hardenbergia monophylla.
K. macrophylla. See Hardenbergia Comptoniana.
K. monophylla. See Hardenbergia monophylla.
K. nigricans (blackish). fl. deep violet-purple, almost black, with a large, greenish-yellow blotch on the standard. March. l., leaflets broadly ovate or rhomboidal, obtuse or emarginate; stipules small, striate, reflexed. 1832. A large twining species. (B. M. 3562; B. R. 1715.) K. ovata. See Hardenbergia monophylla.
K. prostrata (prostrate).* fl. scarlet; peduncles one or two-flowered. March to June. l., leaflets 3 1/2in. long, ovate, broadly ovate or orbicular, pubescent or hirsute; stipules broadly cordate, acute or acuminate. 1790. SYN. Glycine coccinea (under which name it is figured in B. M. 270). K. p. Marryattae (Mrs. Marryatt's).* fl. light scarlet; peduncles four-flowered. March to June. l., leaflets three, oblong, obtuse, undulated; stipules and bracts cordate. 1834. A free-growing twining plant, and, perhaps, the best of all the Kennedyas.
K. rubicunda (reddish).* fl. of a dull or dark red, in pedunculate racemes rarely exceeding the leaves. May. l., leaflets three, usually ovate, but varying from broadly-rhomboid obovate or almost orbicular, to ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate and acute. 1788. A large twining species. (B. M. 268, under name of Glycine rubicunda.) K. Stirlingii (Stirling's). fl. scarlet, on axillary peduncles. May. l., leaflets three, ovate-orbicular, very obtuse, usually above 1in. long; stipules broadly cordate, usually large and much veined. 1834. Plant trailing or twining. (B. R. 1845.)