GENUS i. 



UNICORN-PLANT FAMILY. 



2 39 



Family 32. MARTYNIACEAE Link, Handb. i : 504. 1829. 



UNICORN-PLANT FAMILY. 



Herbs, with opposite leaves, or the upper sometimes alternate, and perfect 

 irregular flowers, racemose in our species. Calyx inferior, 4 5-cleft or 4~5-parted 

 or sometimes split to the base on the lower side. Corolla gamopetalous, irregular, 

 the tube oblique, often decurved, the limb slightly 2-lipped, 5-lobed, the lobes 

 nearly equal, the 2 upper ones exterior in the bud. Anther-bearing stamens 4, 

 didynamous, or the posterior pair sterile; anthers 2-celled, the sacs longitudinally 

 dehiscent. Ovary i -celled, with 2 parietal placentae expanded into broad surfaces, 

 or 2-4-celled by the intrusion of the placentae or by false partitions ; ovules numer- 

 ous or few in each cavity of the ovary, anatropous ; style slender ; stigma 2-lobed 

 or 2-lamellate. Fruit various in the different genera. Seeds oblong or orbicular, 

 compressed, wingless or narrowly winged ; endosperm none ; embryo large ; cotyle- 

 dons fleshy, flat ; radicle short and straight. 



Three genera and about 12 species, mainly tropical. 



i. MARTYNIA L. Sp. PI. 618. 1753. 



Coarse diffusely branched glandular-pubescent and viscid strong-scented herbs, with oppo- 

 site or alternate long-petioled leaves, and large violet purple whitish or mottled flowers in 

 short terminal racemes. Calyx i-2-bracteolate at the base, campanulate, inflated, unequally 

 5-cleft, deciduous. Corolla funnelform-campanulate, oblique, decurved, the 5 lobes nearly 

 equal, spreading. Stamens 4 in our species ; anthers gland-tipped, their sacs divergent. Ovary 

 i-celled, the 2 parietal placentae intruded and expanded in the center of the cavity into broad 

 surfaces bearing the ovules in i or 2 rows. Fruit an incurved beaked loculicidally 2-valved 

 capsule, the exocarp somewhat fleshy, the endocarp fibrous, woody, crested below or also 

 above, 4-celled by the extension of the placentae. Seeds numerous, tuberculate. [Named for 

 John Martyn, 1693-1768, professor of botany at Cambridge, England.] 



About 8 species, natives of America. Besides the following, 2 others occur in the south- 

 western United States. Type species : Martynia annua L. 



i. Martynia louisiana M ill. Unicorn-Plant. 

 Elephant's Trunk. Martinoe. Double- 

 claw. Fig. 3887. 



M. louisiana Mill. Card. Diet. Ed. 8, no. 3. 1768. 

 Martynia proboscidea Glox. Obs. 14. 1785. 



Annual, densely glandular-pubescent all over ; 

 stem stout, much branched, the branches pros- 

 trate or ascending, i-3 long. Leaves broadly 

 ovate to orbicular, rounded at the apex, cordate 

 at the base, repand, undulate or entire, 3'-i2' in 

 diameter, the petiole stout, mostly longer than 

 the blade; bractlets at the base of the calyx ob- 

 long or linear, deciduous ; calyx somewhat cleft 

 on the lower side ; racemes several-flowered ; 

 pedicels slender; corolla whitish or yellowish, 

 mottled with purple or yellow within, i|'-2' long, 

 the limb nearly as broad, the lobes obtuse ; sta- 

 mens all anther-bearing; fruit strongly curved, 

 4'-6' long when mature, the beak longer than the 

 body, splitting into 2 elastically diverging seg- 

 ments, the endocarp crested on the under side 

 only. 



In waste places, escaped from gardens, Maine to 

 western New York, New Jersey and Georgia. Native 

 from Indiana to Iowa, Utah, Texas and New Mexico. July-Sept. 



Family 33. ACANTHACEAE J. St. Hil. Expos. Fam. i : 236. 1805. 



ACANTHUS FAMILY. 



Herbs, or some tropical genera shrubs or small trees, with opposite simple 

 exstipulate leaves, and irregular or nearly regular perfect flowers. Calyx inferior, 

 persistent, 4~5-parted or 4~5-cleft, the sepals or segments imbricated, equal or 

 unequal. Corolla gamopetalous, nearly regularly 5-lobed with the lobes convolute 

 in the bud, or conspicuously 2-lipped. Anther-bearing stamens 4, didynamous, 



