326 CAPPARIDACEAE 



4. Cleomella parvifldra A. Gray. Small-flowered Cleomella. Fig. 2160. 



Cleomella parviflora A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 6: 520. 1865. 

 Cleomella alata Eastw. Zoe 5: 87. 1900. 



Stems usually branching from the base, the branches ascending, 10-40 cm. high. Leaves very 

 short-petioled trifoliolate ; leaflets linear, 15-20 mm. long, glabrous; pedicels very slender 15 

 mm. long in fruit; petals 1.5 mm. long, pale yellow, equaling the stamens; stigma almost sessile; 

 capsule 3-4 mm. broad, inconspicuously horned ; stipe scarcely 1 mm. long. 



Alkaline soil, Lower Sonoran Zone; western Nevada and adjacent California, south to the Mojave Desert. 

 Type locality: near Carson City, Nevada. May-Aug. 



5. Cleomella brevipes S. Wats. Short-pedicelled Cleomella. Fig. 2161. 



Cleomella brevipes S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 17: 365. 1882. 



Stems branching from the base and spreading, glabrous, floriferous and leafy throughout. 

 Leaves sessile or nearly so; leaflets narrowly oblanceolate, 5-15 mm. long, setosely apiculate; 

 flowers solitary in all the axils, on curved pedicels about 3 mm. long; petals 1.5 mm. long; cap- 

 sule ovoid, 3 mm. long, scarcely stipitate. 



Alkaline soils, Lower Sonoran Zone; Inyo County, California, south through the Mojave Desert. Type 

 locality: "Camp Cady, Mojave Desert." May-June. 



3. ISOMERIS Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1 : 124. 1838. 



Ill-scented shrubs with puberulent branches, 3-foliolate petioled leaves and large 

 yellow flowers, axillary or in bracteate racemes. Calyx-lobes 4, persistent. Petals 4, 

 equal. Receptacle dilated with a hemispherical torus. Stamens 6, inserted on the re- 

 ceptacle. Ovary long-stipitate, many-ovuled ; style short ; stigma minute. Capsule inflated, 

 tardily 2-valved. Seeds smooth. [Greek, meaning parts similar, in reference to the 

 regular flowers.] 



A monotypic genus of southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico. 



1. Isomeris arbdrea Nutt. Bladderpod. Fig. 2162. 



Isomeris arborea Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 124. 1838. 



Cleome Isomeris Greene, Pittonia 1 : 200. 1888. 



Isomeris arborea var. insularis Jepson, Fl. Calif. 2: 11. 1936. 



Widely branching glaucous shrub, 1-3 m. high, with hard yellow wood and puberulent 

 branches. Leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets oblong to lanceolate, equaling the petioles, entire, mu- 

 cronate ; flowers in terminal bracteate racemes ; bracts simple ; calyx-lobes acute or acuminate ; 

 petals yellow, oblong, 10-16 mm. long; capsule strongly inflated, 25-35 mm. long, attenuate into 

 the stipe and abruptly tapering at the apex. 



Dry washes and slopes, Upper and Lower Sonoran Zones; Monterey County, California, south to Lower 

 California, Arizona, and Sonora. Type locality: San Diego, California. Jan.-Nov. 



Isomeris arborea var. globosa Coville, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 7: 73. 1892. Capsule globose, not at- 

 tenuate at base, otherwise as the typical form. This is the more common form in the Mojave Desert. 



Isomeris arborea var. angustata Parish, Muhlenbergia 3: 128. 1907. Capsule scarcely inflated, atten- 

 uate at both ends. Frequent in the Colorado Desert, southern California, less so in the Mojave Desert and the 

 coastal region. 



4. WISLIZENIA Engelm. in Wisliz. Mem. Tour North. Mexico 99. 1848. 



Erect, branching, ill-scented annuals. Leaves 1-3-foliolate, petiolate, with small 

 bristle-like stipules. Flowers yellow, in terminal racemes. Stamens well exserted. Pod 

 didymous, each valve closely contracted upon its solitary seed and deciduous with it, 

 nut-like, nerved or reticulated and sometimes tuberculate, open at the scar ; stipe elongated 

 and strongly refracted in fruit; style elongated, bristle-like. [Name in honor of Dr. A. 

 Wislizenius, an early botanical explorer of California and the Southwest.] 



Three or four species, natives of the arid southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Type species, 

 Wislizenia refracta Engelm. 



Tubercles at the summit of the nutlet low, rounded; leaves apparently all trifoliolate. 1. W. calif omica. 



Tubercles elongated, encircling the summit and more or less connivent; leaves apparently all unifoliolate. 



2. W . Palmen. 



1. Wislizenia californica Greene. California Stink-weed, Jackass Clover. 



Fig. 2163. 



Wislizenia californica Greene, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 19: 130. 1906. 



Stout, erect, much branched annual, 5-15 dm. high, sparingly leafy. Leaves 3-foliolate ; leaflets 

 oval, obtuse or sometimes acute, mucronulate, scaberulous on the midvein; racemes densely 

 flowered, elongated in age; petals 3 mm. long; nutlets obovoid or somewhat pyriform, 2 mm. 

 long, with a few low longitudinal ridges, the summit obscurely reticulate and beset with 4 or 5 

 low broad tubercles. 



A bee plant, growing in low, usually sandy or alkaline ground, Sonoran Zones; Sacramento-San Joaquin 

 Valley, California. Formerly referred to Wislizenia refracta Engelm. of Texas and New Mexico. April-Nov. 



