CAPPARIDACEAE 487 



28. WAREA Nutt. 



Annual glabrous herbs, witb branching stems. Leaves alternate, without stipules : 

 blades entire, sessile, obtuse, retuse or rarely acutish. Flowers white, rose or purple, 

 perfect, in terminal naked corymbose racemes. Sepals 4, spatulate, imbricated, often 

 petaloid. Receptacle dilated, with a pair of glands before the shorter stamens. Petals 4, 

 the blades broad, abruptly narrowed into long slender claws which are granular-toothed, 

 serrulate or pectinate-fimbriate. Stamens 6, exserted : filaments filiform, more or less 

 spreading : anthers curved or coiled. Ovary elongated, 2-celled, shorter than its stipe : 

 style wanting : stigma em^rginate. Ovules numerous, in one row in each cavity. Pods 

 narrowly linear, long-stalked, curved, spreading and somewhat pendulous, flattened, the 

 two valves each one-ribbed and delicately nerved, the septum nerveless. Seeds numerous, 

 pendulous, on slender funiculi, flattened, not margined. Embryo conduplicate, with nar- 

 row thick incumbent or oblique and nearly accumbent cotyledons. 



Leaf-blades cuneately narrowed at the base: claws of the petals pectinate-fimbriate. 1. W. cuneifolia. 

 Leaf-blades rounded or auricled at the base. 



Leaves not auricled at the base : claws of the petals granular- toothed. 2. W. sessilifolia. 



Leaves auricled and clasping : claws of the petals serrulate. 3. W. amplextfolia. 



1. Warea cuneifolia ( Muhl. ) Nutt. Plant scarcely glaucescent. Stems 3-7 dm. 

 tall, branched above, the branches ascending : leaf -blades obovate, oblanceolate, or linear- 

 oblong, 1-4 cm. long, obtuse or retuse, entire, cuneately narrowed at the base : racemes 

 dense, 1-3 cm. long : pedicels filiform, spreading : sepals spatulate, 3-4 mm. long, faintly 

 ribbed : petals white or purplish ; blades suborbicular, about 2 mm. in diameter, crisped, 

 undulate, delicately nerved, subcordate ; claws dilated towards the base, pectinate-fim- 

 briate : anthers curled when dry : stalk of the ovary shorter than the claws of the petals : 

 pods linear-filiform, 3.5-4 cm. long, slightly curved : seeds oblong, 1 mm. long. 



On sand hills, near the coast, Georgia to Florida. Summer to winter. 



2. Warea sessilifolia Nash. Plant glaucescent. Stems 3-6 dm. tall, branched, 

 sometimes diffusely so, the branches wiry, ascending or spreading : leaf-blades ovate or 

 ovate-lanceolate, 1-2 cm. long, erect or ascending, obtuse, entire, sessile, not auricled : 

 racemes dense, 1-3 cm. long : pedicels filiform, 6-10 mm. long : sepals spatulate, 7- 8 mm. 

 long, faintly ribbed, purple below, greenish near the apex : petals deep purple ; blades or- 

 bicular-ovate, about 5 mm. long, abruptly narrowed into filiform claws which are 5-6 mm. 

 long and granular-toothed, especially the lower half : filaments purple except the ends, 

 1.5 cm. long : anthers linear, 2 mm. long, coiled when dry: stalk of the ovary as long as 

 or longer than the petals : pods (rather immature) filiform, slightly curved, 2 cm. long. 



On sand hills, western Florida. Summer to winter. 



3. Warea amplexifolla (Nutt. ) Small. Plant glaucous above. Stem 3-7 dm. tall, 

 simple or branched above, the branches very slender : leaf -blades ovate, 1-3 cm. long, acutish, 

 entire, ascending or spreading, sessile, auricled at the base, clasping : racemes rather dense, 

 1-1.5 cm. long: sepals spatulate, about 6 mm. long: petals purplish ; blades orbicular- 

 ovate, about 4 mm. long, each abruptly narrowed into a filiform claw which is about 5 mm. 

 long and serrulate : anthers coiled when dry, 1 mm. long : stalk of the ovary shorter 

 than the petals : pods nearly similar to those of the next preceding species. 



On sand hills, eastern Florida. Summer to winter. 



FAMILY 4. CAPPARIDACEAE Lindl. CAPER FAMILY. 

 Annual or perennial caulescent, often viscid, usually pungent herbs, or some- 

 times shrubs or trees, with a bitter nauseous and sometimes poisonous principle. 

 Leaves alternate, or rarely opposite: blades simple or palmately compound: 

 stipules wanting or represented by spines. Inflorescence terminal, usually race- 

 mose. Flowers perfect, regular or irregular, white, yellow or purple, in terminal 

 racemes or rarely solitary. Sepals usually 4, distinct or more or less united, 

 imbricated, or rarely valvate. Keceptacle depressed or elongated. Petals 4 or 

 rarely more, or sometimes wanting, often unequal, mostly narrowed into slender 

 claws. Androecium of 6 stamens or more. Filaments distinct or united at the 

 base and sometimes adnate to the stalk of the ovary. Anthers introrse, attached 

 at or near the base. Gynoecium 2-carpellary. Ovary free, sessile to long- 

 stalked, 1-celled, commonly elongated, with 2 parietal placentae. Style want- 

 ing or filiform, terminal. Stigma depressed or acute. Ovules numerous, in 2 

 rows on each placenta. Fruit a 1-celled, often stalked, capsule or berry. Seeds 



