Hardenbergia

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of Australian herbs or woody climbers, belonging to the natural order Leguminosæ, tribe Phaseoleæ, distinguished botanically by the strophiolate seeds, small violet flowers, very short calyx-teeth, and a corolla the keel of which is shorter than its wings. The genus consists of 3 species, which, from the profusion of their flowers, make excellent greenhouse-plants. As such, H. monophylla, a hardy evergreen twiner, is the best-known, and is called the Victorian lilac. It has blue flowers in racemes. The spindle-shaped root of these plants is called by the inhabitants sarsaparilla, and used by the gold-miners as a substitute for it: hence the other common name of spurious sarsaparilla.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A small genus of Australian woody vines with small violet flowers; closely related to genus Kennedia.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. small genus of Australian woody vines with small violet flowers; closely related to genus Kennedia