62 • POLANISIA, No. 74. 



Sp. Polanisia graveolms^ Raf. Pubescent viscid, 

 erect. Leaves petiolate, trifoliate, folioles sessile, ob- 

 long, acute : raceme foliose, siliques oblong, acute, 

 glandular, reticulated. 



DESCRIPTION. Root perennial, white, branched. 

 Stem erect, simple or branched, one to three feet high, 

 pubescent viscose, terete. Leaves alternate petiolate, 

 with three sessile oblong acute, unequal and entire 

 folioles, viscid like the stems. Flowers in terminal ra- 

 cemes, lengthening by degrees, rather crowded by 

 leaves, becoming very smalfabove, each flower axillary 

 and solitary on a long peduncle- Calyx coloured of 

 white and rose, with four unequal folioles, two narrow 

 acute, two broader unequal. Petals white, erect, a lit- 

 tle longer, unequal, cuneate, emarginate 5 stamina eight 

 to fifteen, some longer and some shorter than the petals, 

 fastigiate, filiform, red, anthers round. Pistils and sili- 

 ques as abover The whole plant has a strong graveolent 

 smell. 



HISTORY* A new genus of mine, indicated in 1 807, 

 established in 1817, and confirmed by Decandolle; itcon- 

 tains many species blended bv Linneeus under the name of 

 Cleome dodecandra^ native of Asia, the tropics, &lc.; while 

 this is peculiar to North America, and is found all over it, 

 from Canada to Louisiana, on the sandy and gravelly 

 banks of rivers and lakeg. It is one of the most com- 

 mon plants on the banks of the Ohio. It blossoms in 

 summer, from June to August. The generic name 

 means many unequalities ; the specific applies to its 

 strong smell, similar to Erigeron graveokns of Europe. 

 This plant is properly perennial 5 but as it blossoms on 

 the first year of its growth, it resembles then an annual, 

 and has been mistaken for such by Schoepf and Barton. 

 It has some varieties : !• Elatior, three or four feet 

 high, and much branched. 2. Simplex, 3. Cespitosa. 

 4. Glabriuscula^ &c. 



PROPERTIES. Very few authors have noticed this 

 plant, except Schoepf, who first stated tlie root to be 

 anthelmintic. The fact is, that the whole plant is such, 

 even the seeds, and its effects are similar to those of 

 ^nenopodium antlielminthicunu The decoction, powder, 

 or confection, May be used in the same doses. An ac- 



