GUTTIFER.i;. 133 



A shrubby plant, 1-2 feet in heiglit, much and dichotontiously 

 branched, of a brownish colour, chaffy : branchlets compressed 

 ancipital. Leaves opposite, sessile, oblongo-linear, blunt, gla- 

 brous, minutely pellucido-punctulated : glandules 2 at the base 

 of the leaf at its insertion. Flowers terminal, solitary, pedi- 

 celled, yellow. Calyx, the 2 outer sepals small and linear; the 

 2 inner large, subrotundo-ovate, nerved, pellucido-punctulated, 

 enclosing the petals, than which they are about 3 times larger, 

 persistent. Petals spreading, cruciate, oblong, subacute. Sta- 

 mens numerous, shorter than the petals ; anthers roundish. 

 Ovary oblongo-ovate, compressed ; styles 2, short, erect, ap- 

 pressed: stigmata obtuse. Capsule covered with the mares- 

 cent inner sepals of the calyx, oblong, compressed, apiculated 

 Avith the persistent styles, 1 -celled, 2-valved, many-seeded. 

 Seeds oblongo-cylindrical, minutely scrobiculate, attached to the 

 inflected edges of the valves of the capsule. 



According to the character of this Order, given by De Can- 

 dolle, the fruit is many-celled. There is an exception in this 

 species at least. It is also stated, that the number of styles 

 correspond to that of the cells, whereas in the plant before us, 

 it is to that of the placentae, which ai'e attached along the in- 

 flected margins of the valves. This plant delights in clayey 

 soils, and is usually found in mountain pastures with the fox- 

 tailed grass and the broom (Calea scoparia). No description 

 of stock appear to feed upon it. The Negro women tie 

 bunches of it together, and make use of it as a broom, for 

 which purpose it is well adapted. 



ORDER XXXV. GUTTIFER^. 



Calycine sepals 2-6, persistent, rounded, imbri- 

 cated, opposite. Petals hypogynous, 4-10, generally 

 yellow. Flowers hermaphrodite, monoecious, dioeci- 

 ous, or polygamous. Stamens numerous, hypogy- 

 nous, rarely definite : anthers elongated, longitudi- 

 nally dehiscent on the inner surface. Ovary 1, free : 

 style none, or single, and usually short : stigma 

 either sessile and peltato-radiated, or at the apex of the 

 style and many-lobed. Capsule berried, or a berry 

 or drupe, with the pericarp corticose, thick and many- 

 valved ; either one-celled, few-seeded, dry or filled 



