314 PENTANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Datura. 



Root tapering, whitish. Stem 3 or 4 feet high, erect, leafy, smooth, 

 solid, roundish, with several slight angles ; simple below ; 

 branched at the summit in an alternate manner j each branch 

 terminating in a long, upright, simple cluster, of numerous 

 handsome yeWowJluwcrs. Leaves dark green, shining, smooth, 

 veiny, with unequal teeth, or serraturcs j radical ones a span 

 long', bluntish, sinuated, somewhat lyrate, tapering at the base 

 into a short stalk j the rest sessile, alternate, or partly opposite, 

 acute, spreading ; broad and heart-shaped at the base, clasping 

 the stem. Flower-stalks solitary, simple, each with a solitary, 

 ovate, pointed bractea, shorter than itself, especially in the 

 upper part of each cluster. Segments of the calyx lanceolate, 

 recurved, clothed, like the stalks, with small glandular hairs. 

 Cor. streaked with purple at the base j stained with brown at 

 the back. Stam. very unequal, bearded with purple hairs. 

 Caps, globose, with a furrow at each side. Whole herb fetid 

 and acrid. There is a white-flowered variety in gardens, men- 

 tioned by C. Bauhin. 



113. DATURA. Thorn-apple. 



Linn. Gen. 98. Juss. 125. VI. Br. 253. Lam. 1. 1 13. 

 Stramonium. Tourn. t. 43, 44. Gcertn. t. 132. 



Nat. Orel, see n. 112. 



Cal. inferior, of 1 leaf, oblong, tubular, swelling, with 5 

 angles and 5 teeth, separating by a horizontal fissure all 

 round, near the base, leaving a circular, reflexed, perma- 

 nent portion underneath the germen. Cor. of 1 petal, 

 funnel-shaped, regular; tube cylindrical, rather longer 

 than the calyx; limb moderately spreading, with 5 plaits, 

 5 angles, and 5 shallow, pointed, equal lobes. Filam. 

 equal, awl-shaped, as long as the tube, to which they are 

 united for about half their length. Anth. heart-shaped- 

 oblong, erect, compressed, obtuse. Germ, ovate, of 4 

 cells. Style central, thread-shaped, straight, erect, the 

 length of the stamens. Stigma thick, obtuse, of 2 oblique 

 lobes, united above. Caps, roundish-ovate, often prickly, 

 subtended by the permanent base of the calyx, of 2 half 

 divided cells, and 4< valves; receptacles 2 to each cell, 

 columnar, vertical, spongy, dotted, each attached, by a 

 lateral process, to the principal transverse partition. 

 Seeds kidney-shaped, dotted, very numerous, covering 

 the receptacles. 



Herbaceous, or shrubby. Stem round, branched. Leaves 

 scattered, stalked, pliable, simple, either entire or toothed. 



