342 A BoranicaL DESCRIPTION OF THE 
found it defcribed by any authors, except Linnzus and 
Clayton, neither of whom had feen the flowers, and as it 
is, ‘certainly, anew family, I take the liberty of making 1t 
known.to the botanifts by the name of 
JEFFERSONIA, 
in honour of Thomas Jefferfon, Efg. Secretary of State to 
the United-States. 
Ibeg leave to obferve to you, in this place, that in 
impofing upon this genus the name of Mr. Jefferfon, I 
have had no reference to his political character, or to his 
reputation for general {cience, and for literature. My bu- 
finefs was with his knowledge of natural hiftory. In the 
various departments of this fcience, but efpecially in bo- 
tany and in zoology, the information of this gentleman 
is equalled by that of few perfons in the United-States. — 
Of the genus which I have been defcribing, we, as yet, 
know but one fpecies, which I call 
JEFFERSONIA BINATA. 
The root of this plant is fibrous, very branching, of a 
pale-brown, or dirty-yellowith, colour, and confifting of 
a cortex, or bark, and a woody part. This ligneous por- 
tion is of a more lively yellow thanthe bark. The fibres, 
including both bark and wood, are not, in general, thicker 
than a common pin. 
The /ralks are feveral: they do not branch out at all, 
but proceed immediately from the crown of the root, fup- 
porting the leaves, and the flowers, Both thefe leaf and 
flower ftalks are naked, commonly about a line in thick- 
nefs, {mooth, and of a dark green, fomewhat purplith, 
colour. After the falling off of the flower, the ftalks, as 
well as the leaves, &c. encreafe, very confiderably, in 
fize. 
The 
