246 CAPPARIDE^. 



(1834). Ellimiaruderalis, l^ntt.; T. & G. Fl. i. 125 (1838). Glabrous, 

 5 — 10 in. high, branching from the base : leaves somewhat succulent, 

 often fascicled, }^ — 1 in. long : fi. minute, subtended by small bracts : 

 capsules in long loose spikes, depressed-globose, about 1^^' lines thick, 

 angled and sulcate, shortly 4-beaked. — A seaside and alkaline-desert 

 herb; not known north of Santa Barbara. 



ObderXLIl CAPPARIDE/E. 



Ventenat, Tabl. du Eeg. Veg. iii. 118 (1799), Cappakides, Juss. (1789). 



Herbs or shrubs, with more or less heavy-scented and pungent-flavored 

 herbage, alternate simple or compound usually exstipulate leaves, and 

 complete flowers in bracted racemes. Sepals or calyx-lobes 4 Petals 4. 

 Stamens 6 — 8, mostly unequal, usually inserted on the very base of the 

 calyx, sometimes hypogynous. Ovary and fruit commonly stipitate, 

 composed of 2 closely united carpels. Fruit various ; a 1-celled silique 

 with many seeds on 2 placentae, or the 2 valves 1-seeded and separating 

 from the axis as nutlets. Seeds globose or reniform, exalbuminous. 



1. ISOMERIS, Nuttall. A low stoutish and rigid glaucous and 

 puberulent shrub, with 3-foliolate leaves, and rather large yellow flowei's 

 in short bracteate terminal racemes. Calyx persistent, 4-cleft ; lobes 

 ovate, acuminate. Petals sessile, oblong, equal. Torus fleshy, dilated. 

 Stamens 6, on the torus. Pod large, inflated, coriaceous, obovate-oblong, 

 indehiscent. Seeds few, large, smooth. 



1. I. arborea, Nutt.; T. & G. Fl. i. 124 (1838); Torr. Bot. Mex. 

 Bound, t. 4. Cleorne Isomeris, Greene, Pitt. i. 200 (1888). Common south- 

 ern seaboard shrub, scarcely more than a species of Cleorne; probably not 

 found many miles north of Santa Barbara. 



2. CLEOME, Linnxus. Ours erect branching annuals, with palmately 

 3 — 7-foliolate leaves (the leaflets entire), and yellow flowers in bracteate 

 racemes. Sepals 4, sometimes united at base. Petals sessile or unguic- 

 ulate. Stamens 6, on the small toriTs. Pod oblong or linear, 2-valved ; 

 valves deciduous from the slender placentae. Seeds co , round-reniform. 



1. C. lutea, Hook. Fl. i. 70. t. 25 (1830); Bot. Eeg. xxvii. t. 67. 

 Glabrous or slightly pubescent, 1 — 2 ft. high : leaflets 5, linear- to oblong- 

 lanceolate, 1—2 in. long, acute, short-petiolulate, equalling the petioles ; 

 stipules setaceous, caducous ; bracts simple, bristle-tipped : fl. bright 

 yellow, corymbose, the raceme elongated in fr.; petals 3—4 lines, 

 exceeding the ovate-lanceolate sepals: stamens long-exserted: pod 6 — 15 

 lines long, 2 lines broad, acute at each end ; stipe and pedicel each i., in. 

 long. ^Valleys of northwestern Nevada and doubtless within California. 



