Chom^ll,,. (.'API'AIUDACE.K 51 



1. P, trachysperma, Torr. & (Jray. (ilaiuluhir-piihcscent, erect, ^ Id 2 feet 

 high: leaves yioJiolale ; leaflets lanceulate, i to 2 iiiclies long, ticute, about eciual- 

 iing the petioles, nearly sessile ; Horal bracts mostly simple, ovate to lanceolate, 

 shortly jietioled : petals 3 to 5 lines long, with slender claws as long as the sepals, 

 and an emarginate blade : stamens 12 to 16 ; filaments exserted : style 2 to 3 lines 

 long : pod 1 to 2^ inches long, very rarely on a short slender stipe : seeds finely 

 pitted and often warty. — Fl. i. GG9 ; Gray, Gen. 111. i. 182, t. 79. /■•. unvjland- 

 «/om, Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. iv. G7 ; "Watson, Bot. King Exp. 31. 



From tlio ("oliiinhia Uivcr to Kiiiisiis and soutliwanl to N. Ni-vndu (imJ Texas. Tlio I', uniijland- 

 idosa, Cav., of Mexico and New Mexico, to wliich it lias been referred, dilfers in its much larger 

 flowers, greatly elongated style, larger pods npon a atont terete stipe, and smootli seeds. 'I'lie 

 eastern P. (jraveoleiis may be distiiiguislied by its smaller Howei's, shorter style, fewer and shorter 

 stampns, and smoother seeds ; its leaves arc also mostly obtuse or obtusish. 



3. CLEOME, Linn. 



Sepals 4, sometimes uniteil at ba.se. Petals with claws or .sessile. .Stamens G, 



upt)n the small torus. Pod (in our species) linear or oblong, stipitate, many-seeded : 



stylo short or none. Seeds globose-reniform to ovate. — Our species are all erect 



branching annuals; with palmately 3 - 7-foliolate leaves (leaflets entire), and yellow 



or purple flowers, in bracteato racemes ; pods pendent on spreading pedicels. 



About 70 species, inhabitants of hot and dry regions, chiefly of America and Africa. The fol- 

 lowing species api>roach the eastern or southern borders of the State. 



1. C. lutea, J look. Smooth or slightly pubescent, 1 to 2 feet high : leaflets 5, 

 linear- to olilnng-lanceolato, one or two inches long, acute, .^hort-l)(>(iolulatc, equal- 

 ling tiie petiolcvs ; stipules setaceous, caducous; bracts simple, bristle-tijtped : flowers 

 showy, bright yellow, corymbo.se, the raceme elongated in fruit : petals 3 to 4 lines 

 long, much exceeding the ovate-lanceolat(3 sepals : stanuMis much ex.sertcd : i)od G to 

 If) lines long, about 2 lines broad, acute at each end : stylo less than a lino long: 

 the stipe and pedicel each about half an inch long. — Fl. i. 70, t. 25 ; Lindl. Bot. 

 Reg. xxvii. t. 67. C. aurea, Nutt. in Torr. & Gniy, Fl. i. 122 ; Watson, I. c. 32. 



Abundant in t.hp valleys of Northwestern Nevada, thenre northward tn the Columbia and cast 

 to Colorado. 



2. C. platycarpa, Torr. With tlio habit and characters of the la.'^t, but pube.s- 

 cent and somewiiat glandular : leaflets 3, broadly oblong in lanceolate, G to 8 lines 

 long, obtu.se or acutish : sepals linear-setaceous : pod 9 lines long, about 4 lines 

 broad, 10- 1 2-seeded : style 2 lines long. — Bot. AVilkes Exp. 23.^^, t. 2. 



Klamath Hiver, X. California (PicXrrjx^r) ; Rluo Mountains, Oregon, Ncvius. 



3. C. sparsifolia, Watson. Smooth, diffn.sely branched, a foot high : leaves 

 much scattered, simple or 3-foliolato ; leaflets 2 or 3 lines hmg, oblanceolate, acute; 

 stipult;s fimbriate, caducous : flowers few, in a loose raceme : sepals ovate : petals 

 with a iKHitariferous scale at bnse, 3 lines long, exceeding the stamens : pods lines 

 long, narrow, acutish, very shortly stipitate. — Bot. King Ex]). 32, I. f). 



In dry sand, near Ragtown, Carson Desert, Nevada, Wnlxon. 



C. SoNiMi^,, C.i-ay, ri. Wright, ii. ]fi, is a tall slender glabrous sjieeies, with trifoliolate almoat 

 sessile leaves and JMiear lealleis ; flowers small, in loose racemes; j.nds half nn inch long; stylo 

 very short. From Northwestern Sonora to S. Colorado, nnd niiiy enter S. Cnlirnrnia. 



4. CLEOMELLA, OC 



Cliaracters nearly as in C/mm^, bul^ the few seeded pod small and ovoid-globosp 

 or rhomboidal, i>r with the valves often laterally produced. — Erect bmnching 

 annuals ; flowers yellow, racemose ; leaves 3foliolate. 



.\ geniH of half n il.i/en s))ecip«, confined to tlie inferior rej^imi of N'nth Amerjen. 



