310 CALYCI FLORAE. 



twice the length of the corolla, slightly accrete for half their 

 length at the base : anthers minute, yellow. Ovary small, ob- 

 long, green : style length of the stamens : stigma obtuse. Le- 

 gume about 3 inches in length, linear, piano-compressed, vel- 

 vety, about 10-seeded : seeds covered with a pellicle, orbi- 

 culate, compressed, yellowish. 



XXXVII. Desmanthus. 



Flowers polygamous. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals 5, 

 distinct, oblongo-spathulate, or united, or in the 

 neuter flowers none. Stamens 10, rarely 5, with the 

 filaments in the lower flowers sterile, dilatato-mem- 

 branaceous or filiform. Legume continuous, juiceless, 

 2-valved. De Cand. 



Herbaceous or fruticose ; leaves bipinnate ; leaflets linear ; 

 spikes axillary, ovate or cylindrical ; flowers white. Name, 

 from ds<r/j,o$ a bond, and av6og a flower ; on account of the fasci- 

 cules of flowers being as it were bound together. 



1. Desmanthus strictus. Erect Desmanthus. 



Suffruticose erect, pinnae 4-5-paired with a glan- 

 dule between the lowest pair, peduncles naked, 

 flowers capitate bracteolated decandrous, legume nar- 

 row-linear 20-25-seeded. 



Mimosa frutescens siliquis compressis falcatis umbellatis, 

 pedunculo longissimo, Browne, 253. Desmanthus strictus, De 

 Cand. Prod. II. 445. 



HAB. Roadside near Castle Perkins, Liguanea. 



FL. May. 



A shrub, 2-3 feet in height : branches angulose, striated, 

 glabrous. Leaves alternate, bipinnate ; pinnae 3-5-paired ; 

 leaflets 25-paired, linear, acute, ciliated: petiole 3-gonal, bear- 

 ing an orbiculate excavated cup-shaped glandule between the 

 lowest pair of pinnae. Stipules setaceous. Peduncle axillary, 

 solitary, shorter than the leaf, bearing 6-8 flowers in a head. 

 Flowers small, white, sessile, furnished with a minute ovate 

 acuminate scariose ciliated bracteole. Calyx 5-fid : teeth 

 subulate, erect. Petals 5, about twice the length of the calyx, 

 linear, acute, greenish. Stamens 10, longer than the petals, 

 delicately capillary, matted. Ovary oblong, compressed, glab- 

 rous : style interlaced with the stamens, and of the same length : 

 stigma capitate, excavated at the extremity. Legumes 2-3 

 inches in length, and 2-3 lines in breadth, linear, about 25-seed- 

 ed : seeds oval, compressed. 



