74 TETRAD YNAMTA. SILlCtUOSA. 



or 4 feet hig'h, much branched. Leaves all ternate, very 

 stnoolh and g'lancous above, scarcel}- pubescent beneath, 

 thickish. Stem andculix entirely free from viscid pubes- 

 cence Calix small, and ciipulaie, membranaceous, sepa- 

 rating- at tlie base it then becomes deciduous, subsiding 

 down the peduncle upon which it remains inseparable; bor- 

 der crenate,4-toothed, dentures subulate, alternating- vvilh 

 the petals. Nothing- like glands are perceptible, and tbe 

 corolla appears reg"uln.r. l-*etals 4, ovate, subsessile and 

 spreading, of a bright violaceous purple, 2 or 3 lines long, 

 3 times the length of the calix. Stamina 6, equal and ca- 

 pillary, spreading, monadelphous at the base, arising from 

 a second torus distinct from that of the calix, and at the 

 base of the stipe which supports the silique; anthers ob- 

 long, small and recuned, opening dicoidly on the outer 

 surface. Stipe at length about an inch long, supporting 

 an oblong, and somewhat ovate, smooth silique; terminated 

 by a short style and stigma. Kece])tacle without dissepi- 

 ment, marginal, on eitlier side seminiferous. Embryon in- 

 curved. The whole plant when bruised emits almost the 

 same fcetid odor as C dodecandra. Jf the flower aflTords any 

 generic character Jltalanta is a genus, the habit is however 

 altogether that of Cleome; but is every plant to be consi- 

 dered a Cleome which produces digitate leaves, and pedi- 

 cellate siliques? What aflfinity but this connects together 

 C' pentaphylla and C dodecandra,- in this last, moreover, 

 the silique is sessile, and the flower, which is solitary and 

 axillary, furnished with only a single gland, as in C. uni- 

 glandulosa, of New Spain, which is probably the same 

 plant. 



A tropical genus, containing about 26 species, indige- 

 nous to India, meridional America, Arabia, and Africa; it 

 is a singular fact that Nos. I and 2 of this Catalogue are 

 equally indigenous to India, and though originating no 

 doubt in the most ardent of climates, Cleome dodecandra^ 

 like many other annuals, has now- extended its limits into 

 I'ennsylvania, and to the 48lh degree of North latitude on 

 the banks of the Missouri. From their active qualities, 

 they seem to claim the attention of physicians. Some in- 

 deed are probably very deletereous. Ot Cgi^ranfea, produ- 

 ced in the iatal climate of Guinea, Linnxus remarks, that 

 its taste is extremely burning, and its odor as remarkably 

 vi^o^c. 



