36 THALAMIFLOK^E. 



5. * Cleome Houstonis. Houston's Cleome. 

 Herbaceous glanduloso-velutine, stipules and peti- 

 oles spinescent, leaves 3-5-foliate, floral leaflets ovali- 

 oblong, siliques shortly stalked glanduloso-velutine. 



Brown, Hort. Kew. IV. 131. 



III. CRATJEVA. 



Calyx of 4 sepals. Petals 4 larger than the calyx. 

 Stamens 8-28. Disk elongated or hemispherical. 

 Berry stalked, thinly corticated, ovato-globose, pulpy 

 within. 



Name, from Cratsevas, a Greek naturalist mentioned by Hip- 

 pocrates. 



Unarmed shrubby trees with 3-foliate leaves. 



1 . Crataeva gynandra. Gynandrom Garlic-Pear- 

 tree. 



Stamens 20-24 inserted on a cylindrical disk longer 

 than the petals, berry ovoid, leaflets ovate acuminate. 



Sloane, II. 170. Browne, 246.Swartz, Obs. 191. 



HAB. Common in the plains. 



FL. May. 



A tree about 15 feet in height: branches terete, glabrous, 

 marked with small oblong rimose white spots. Leaves towards 

 the ends of the young branches, alternate, petiolate, 3-foliate ; 

 leaflets petiolulated, ovate, acuminate, (the lateral ones unequal 

 at the base), entire, glabrous, subcoriaceous, delicately nerved : 

 petiole terete. Inflorescence at first corymbose, but afterwards, 

 from the elongation of the peduncle, racemose : peduncle angu- 

 lose : pedicels an inch or more in length, received into a thick- 

 ened cup, furnished with a spathulato-lanceolate bractea. Flow- 

 ers numerous, rather large, purpurascent. Sepals of the calyx 

 4, ovate, with a tranverse corrugated excrescence internally at 

 the base, deciduous. Petals alternating with the sepals, 2, 

 rarely 4, unequal, clawed, spathulate, white, the longest about 

 | an inch in length. Stamens 20-24, an inch and a half in 

 length, capillary, purpurescent, inserted on the disk : anthers 

 linear: pollen yellow. Pistil in the barren flowers imperfect; , 

 in the fertile conical, supported on a stipe which is at first short, 

 but afterwards becomes elongated as the fruit forms. Berry 

 size of a pigeon's egg, ovoid, 2-celled, many-seeded. 



This is a very common tree in the plains. From its nause- 

 ous smell it has received the name of the Garlic- Pear-tree It 

 has a burning acrid taste, and the bark applied externally is said 

 to produce vesication. 



