92 CLASS HEXANDRIA. 



not unirequently met with in all our shady woods, 

 in flower about the month of May. They have ab- 

 rupt or praemorse, tuberous, perennial roots ; and each 

 plant consists of a low, undivided stem, bearing at its 

 summit 3 broad leaves, from the centre of which arises 

 a single sessile or pedunculated flower of a white 

 or brown color, consisting of a 3-leaved calyx ; 3 pe- 

 tals ; a sessile, trifid stigma ; a superior berry of 3 

 cells, each cell containing many seeds. This genus, 

 with the exception of one Siberian species, is exclu- 

 sively North American. 



Considerably related to the preceding genus is the 

 Gyromia, or Indian Cucumber, which is found also in 

 moist or rich shady woods, in flower about June. 

 The roots are white, oblong tubers, tapering at the 

 extremity, and not unpalatable to the taste, having 

 been once collected for food by the original natives. 

 The stem is about a foot high, or little more, and un- 

 divided, about the middle sending off a whorl or circle 

 of entire lanceolate leaves ; above these appears a ring 

 of 3 other leaves, surmounted by several small green- 

 ish-yellow pedunculated flowers, each consisting of a 

 6-parted, revolute corolla, and no calyx. The fila- 

 ments and their anthers distinct ; no style ; but 3 long, 

 brownish filiform and divaricate stigmas, united at the 

 base. The berry 3-celled, the cells each 5 or 6 seed- 

 ed ; the seeds 3-sided and compressed. Of this 

 genus, allied considerably to the preceding, there is 

 but a single species peculiar to North America. It 

 was formerly referred to the genus MedeoJa, which 

 produces a 3-seeded berry, and is peculiar to the 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



To the 4th order of this class, or Tetragynia, is 

 referred a very singular, almost aquatic plant of the 

 middle and southern states, called Saunirus, which is 

 translated Lizards-tail, in allusion to the appearance 



