158 MONAnELPHiA DODECANDRiA. Piei'ospermum, 



Stem erect, with many simple, erect branches ; when 

 growing' on a good soil from two to five feet high, smooth, 

 except for a i'ew small, depressed, stellate hairs. Leaves 

 petioled, alternate, hastate, linear-lanceolate ; margins waved, 

 and deeply serrate-crenate, pretty smooth on both sides. 

 Petioles from one to two inches long, round. Stipules subu- 

 late. Peduncles axillary, solitary, short, two-flowered ; pe- 

 dicels three times longer than the peduncles, joined near 

 the apex. Bractes about the base of the peduncles and pedi- 

 cels, subulate. Floicers nodding, large, bright red, expand- 

 ing at noon and dropping by day-light next morning. 

 Calyx double ; the exterior one three-leaved, caducous ; the 

 interior one deeply five-parted; diirisiofis lanceolate, brisily. 

 Petals five, triangular, inserted by evident sutures into the 

 base of the staminiferous tube. Stamens fertile ;Jilaments fif- 

 teen, short. Anthers sub-sagitlate. Sterile Jilamevts (or nec- 

 taries.) five, linear-lanceolate, nearly the lengdi of the corol, 

 one between every three fertile filaments, and with them unit- 

 ed at the base into a short conical tube. Germ, half hid in the 

 tube formed by the base of the filaments. >S'////e the length of 

 the sterile filaments. Stigma clavate, and spirally twisted. 

 C<7;>s<//c sub-globular, bristly, five-celled, five-valved. Seeds 

 from eight to twelve in each cell, disposed in two vertical 

 rows. 



PTEROSPERMUM. Sckreb. gen. N. 1124. 

 Calyx five-cleft. Corol five-petalled. Five of the twenty 

 stamens, sterile. Germ pedicelled, five-celled ; cells few or 

 many-seeded; attachment interior. Capsule woody, five cell- 

 e<l. Seeds w inged. Embryo erect, plaited, and furnished 

 with a perisperm. 



1. P. acerifolium. Willd, iii. 72J), &c. 

 Leaves peltate, ovate, repand. 

 Pentapetes acerifolia. Linn. Cavan. &c. 



