ZYGOPHYLLE^. 185 



ORDER L. ZYGOPHYLLEiE. 



Calycine sepals 5. Petals 5, alternate with the 

 sepals, inserted on the receptacle. Stamens 10, distinct, 

 hypogynous ; 5 of them opposite to the sepals, and 5 

 to the petals. Ovary single, 5-celled: styles 5, united 

 into 1, sometimes siibdistinct at the apex. Capsule 

 of 5 carpels, united among themselves and to a central 

 axis, with the cells opening at the upper angle : seeds 

 1-co ; embryo straight j radicle superior j cotyledons 

 leafy. 



Herbaceous or shrubby ; leaves stipulated at the base, fre- 

 quently compound. Plants belonging to this order are more 

 or less bitter, with a slight degree of acridity. 



Tribulus. Caltrops. 



Calyx of 5 deciduous sepals. Petals 5, patent. 

 Stamens 10. Style O. Carpels 5, fixed on an axis, 

 triangular, indehiscent, hard, gibbous, spiny, trans- 

 versely many- rarely one-celled. Seeds solitary in 

 each cell. 



Diffuse Iierbaceous plants. Flowers in general yellow. The 

 generic designation is derived from r^ng three and (SoXoc a point, 

 in reference to the points of the carpels. The English name 

 Caltrops is given to it, from the resemblance the fruit has to 

 the machines which were formerly cast in the way to obstruct 

 an enemy's cavalry. 



1. Tribulus Cistoides. Cistus-like Turkey -Blossom. 



Leaves 8-jugate, leaflets subequal silky beneath, 

 peduncles length of the petiole. 



Jacq. Schoenbr. 103. — Pbtk. t. G7. f. 4. 



HAB- Common in the Plain of Liguanea. 



FL. After rains, during the warmer months. 



Root perennial, woody. Stems several, 1-2 feet long, 

 herbaceous, procumbent, round, hairy (a minute curled pubes- 

 cence intermixed with the long hairs), reddish, jointed, sending 

 off short horizontal branches. Leaves opposite, the one com- 

 posed of 3-4 and the other of 6-8 pairs of leaflets ; leaflets, 

 shortly petiolulated, lineari-oblong, apiculate, delicately veined, 

 glabrous above except along the mid-rib, sericeo-villous be- 



