TETRAD YNAMIA, SILIQ,UOSA. 



or 4 feet high, much branched. Leaves all ternatc, very 

 smoolh and g'laucous above, scarcely pubescent beneath, 

 thickish. Stem and calix entirely free from viscid pubes- 

 cence. Calix small, and cupulate, meutbranaceous, sepa- 

 rating at the base it then becomes deciduous, subsiding- 

 down the peduncle upon which it remains iui^eparable; bor- 

 der crenate, 4-toothed,dentui'es subulate, alternating vviih 

 the petals. Nothing like glands are perceptible, and the 

 corolla appears regular. Petals 4, ovate, subsessile and 

 spreading, of a bright violaceous purple, 2 or 3 lines long, 

 3 times the length of the calix. Stamina 6, equal and ca- 

 pillary, spreading, monadelphous at the base, arising from 

 a second torus distinct from that of the calix, and at the 

 base of the stipe which supports the silique; anthers ob- 

 long, small and recurved, opening dicoidly on the outer 

 surface. Stipe at length about an inch long, supporting 

 un oblong, and somewliat ovate, smooth silique; terminated 

 by a short style and stigma. Receptacle without dissepi- 

 ment, marginal, on either side seminiferous. Embryon in- 

 curved. The whole plant when bruised emits almost the 

 same fcetid odor as C dodecandra. If the flower affords any 

 generic character Jttalarita is a genus, the habit is liowever 

 altogether that of Cleome; but is every plant to be consi- 

 dered aCleome which produces digitate leaves, and pedi- 

 cellate siliques? What affinity but this connects together 

 C' pentaphylla and C dodecandra,- in this last, moreover, 

 the silique is sessile, and the flower, which is solitary and 

 axillary, furnished with only a single gland, as in C tini- 

 i^landulosat of New Spain, which is probably the same 

 plant. 



A tropical genus, containing about 26 species. Indige- 

 nous to India, meridional America, Arabia, and Africa; it 

 it a singidar fact thai Nos. 1 and 2 of this Catalogue are 

 equally indigenous to India, and though originating no 

 doubt in the most ardent of climates, Cleome dodecaiidruy 

 like many other annuals, has now extended its limits into 

 Pennsylvania, and to the 48th degree of North latitude on 

 the banks of the Missouri, From their active qualities, 

 they seem to claim the attention of physicians. Some in- 

 deed are probably very deletereous. Or C giganteay produ* 

 ced in the fatal climate of Guinea, Linn3eus remarks, that 

 its taste is extremely burning^, and its odor as remarkably 

 viroiC. 



