Vol. III.] 



UNICORN-PLANT FAMILY. 



20I 



i. Martynia Louisiana Mill. Unicorn-Plant. 



Double-claw. (Fig. 3369.) 



M. Louisiana Mill. Gard. Diet. Ed. 8, no. 3. 1768. 

 Martynia proboscidea Glox. Obs. 14. 1785. 



Annual, densely glandular-pubescent all over; 

 stem stout, much branched, the branches pros- 

 trate or ascending, i-3 long. Leaves broadly 

 ovate to orbicular, rounded at the apex, cordate 

 at the base, repand, undulate or entire, 3 / -i2 / in 

 diameter, the petiole stout, mostly longer than 

 the blade; bractlets at the base of the calyx ob- 

 long or linear, deciduous; calyx somewhat cleft 

 on the lower side; racemes several-flowered; 

 pedicels slender; corolla whitish or yellowish, 

 mottled with purple or yellow within, i% f -i f 

 long, the limb nearly as broad, the lobes obtuse; 

 stamens all anther-bearing; fruit strongly 

 curved, 4 / -6 / long when mature, the beak longer 

 than the body, splitting into 2 elastically di- 

 verging segments, the endocarp crested on the 

 under side only. 



In waste places, escaped from gardens, Maine 

 to New Jersey and North Carolina. Native in the 

 Mississippi Valley from Iowa and Illinois south- 

 ward. July-Sept. 



Elephant's Trunk. 



Family 32. ACANTHACEAE J. St. Hil. Expos. Fam. 1: 236. 1805. 



Acanthus Family. 



Herbs, or some tropical genera shrubs or small trees, with opposite simple 

 exstipulate leaves, and irregular or nearly regular perfect flowers. Calyx in- 

 ferior, persistent, 4-5-parted or 4-5-cleft, the sepals or segments imbricated, 

 equal or unequal. Corolla gamopetalous, nearly regularly 5-lobed with the 

 lobes convolute in the bud, or conspicuously 2-lipped. Anther-bearing stamens 

 4, didynamous, or 2 only; anthers mostly 2-celled, the sacs longitudinally de- 

 hiscent. Disk annular, or cup-like. Ovary 2-celled; ovules 2-10 in each cavity, 

 anatropous or amphitropous; style filiform, simple; stigmas 1 or 2. Capsule 

 dry, 2-celled, loculicidally elastically 2-valved. Seeds globose or orbicular, not 

 winged, borne on curved projections (retinacula) from the placentae, the testa 

 close, mostly roughened, often developing spiral threads and mucilage when 

 wetted. Endosperm in the following genera none; cotyledons flat, commonly 

 cordate. 



About 175 genera and 1800 species, natives of temperate and tropical regions of the Old World 

 and the New. 



Corolla convolute in the bud, nearly regular; stamens 4. 



Ovules 2 in each cavity; capsule 2-4-seeded. 1. Calophanes. 



Ovules 3-10 in each cavity; capsule 6-20-seeded. 2. Ruellia. 

 Corolla imbricated in the bud, strongly 2-lipped; stamens 2. 



Lower lip of the corolla 3-eleft; flowers bracted. not involucrate. 3. Dianthera. 



Lower lip of the corolla entire or 3-toothed; flowers involucrate. 4. Diapedinm. 



i. CALOPHANES Don; Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. (II). pi. 181. 1833. 



Erect or procumbent perennial herbs or shrubs, with entire leaves (smaller ones some- 

 times fascicled in their axils), and blue or purple, rather large, bracted flowers, axillary, soli- 

 tary or clustered. Calyx deeply 5-cleft, the lobes setaceous. Corolla funnelform, the tube 

 slightly curved, enlarged above, or cylindraceous, the limb spreading, 5-lobed, somewhat 

 2-lipped, the lobes rounded, sinistrorsely convolute in the bud. Stamens 4, didynamous, in- 

 cluded, all anther-bearing in our species; anther-sacs mucronate at the base. Ovules 2 in 

 each cell of the ovary; summit of the style recurved; stigma simple, or of 2 unequal lobes. 

 Capsule oblong, linear, narrowed at the base, 2-4-seeded. Seeds flat, orbicular, attached by 

 their edges to the retinacula. [Greek, beautiful appearance.] 



About^o species, of wide distribution in warm and tropical regions. Besides the following, 4 

 others occur in the southern and southwestern United States. 



