il GARDEN BOTANY. 



ions pinnatifid, lobes linear; peduncles few-flowered ; petals small, pale pur- 

 ple, with darker streaks. This and the two preceding are much mixed. 



P. myrrhifolium. Stems slender, herbaceous or nearly so, hairy , 

 leaves once or twice pinnatifid, with narrow linear lobes ; peduncles few- 

 flowered ; petals often only 4, white, the two upper obovate and with purple 

 veins, the two lower linear and much smaller. 



P. triste, Sad or Night-scented P. Stem succulent and very short 

 from a tuberous rootstock, or none; leaves pinnately decompound, hairy, the 

 lobes unequal ; umbel many-flowered ; petals dull brownish-yellow with darker 

 spots, sweet-scented at night. 



Order TBOPiEOLACEjE. Indian-Cress Family. 



South American twining or straggling herbs, with the pungent taste and smell 

 of cresses, and showy, irregular flowers, with a spur to the calyx, — all of the 

 genus 



1. Tropseolum, commonly called Nasturtium, which is the botanical 

 name of the true Cress. 



T. majus, Common Nasturtium. Low annual; leaves rounded, an- 

 gled, peltate ; flowers yellow, varying towards red, the claws of three of the 

 petals fringed. 



T. peregrinum, Canary-bird Flower. Annual, climbing high ; 

 leaves deeply lobed and cut ; petals pale yellow, all cut-fringed. 



Order BALSAMINACEJE. Balsam Family. 

 Manual, p. 73. — Many varieties are common in gardens of the familiar 



I. Impatiens Balsamina, Garden Balsam or Touch-me-not. A 

 low annual, with succulent stems, crowded lanceolate leaves, and very showy 

 (white, red, or purple, mostly double) flowers in their axils ; spur short. 



Order RTJTACEJE. Rue Family. 



Manual, p. 74. — Besides Ptelea, which is sometimes planted in grounds, the 

 following are cultivated, both very strong-scented plants. 



1. Ruta graveolens, Rue. A very strong-scented and acrid-bitter peren- 

 nial of country gardens, almost woody at the base, with decompound coarsely 

 punctate leaves, and oblong or obovate leaflets ; flowers pale yellow, eymose ; 

 petals 4, concave ; stamens 8, short ; pod globular, 4-lobed. 



2. Dictamnus Praxinella, Fraxinella, is a pleasanter-scented percn 

 nial, with pinnate leaves, and a stout erect raceme of large, rather irregular 

 flowers; petals 5, either white or purple; stamens 10; filaments long, de- 

 clined, glandular towards the summit; fruit of 5 compressed pods united with 

 each other in the axis. 



Order SIMAPUBACEJE, which we may call Rutaccse without 

 dotted leaves, is represented by the cultivated 



1. Ailanthus glandulosus, Tree-of-PIeaven. A shade tree of rapid 

 growth, with large pinnate leaves of many pairs of leaflets, and small, polyga- 

 mous or dioecious, greenish flowers. Lobes of the calyx and the petals 5. 

 Stamens 10 in the Btaminate, 2 or .3 in some of the fertile flowers. Pistils 2 to 

 5, with somewhat lateral styles. Fruit a samara, much like that of Ash. 

 Staminate flowers of very unpleasant smell. 



