VOL. II.] 



CAPER FAMILY. 



155 



Pod long-stipitate on its pedicel; stamens 4-6. 



Pod linear-elongated ; petals generally clawed. 

 Petals entire. 

 Petals laciniate. 



Pod short, rhomboid; petals sessile. 

 Pod nearly or quite sessile on its pedicel. 



1. Cleome. 



2. Cristatella. 



3. Cleomella. 



4. Polanisia. 



i. CLEOME L. Sp. PI. 671. 1753. 



Herbs or low shrubs, generally branching. Leaves digitately 3-5-foliolate, or simple. 

 Leaflets entire or serrulate. Calyx 4-divided or of 4 sepals, often persistent. Petals 4, cru- 

 ciate, nearly equal, entire, more or less clawed. Receptacle short, slightly prolonged above 

 the petal-bases. Stamens 6 (rarely 4), inserted on the receptacle above the petals. Ovary 

 stalked, with a gland at its base. Capsule elongated, long-stipitate, many-seeded. [Deriva- 

 tion uncertain; perhaps from the Greek, to shut.] 



About 75 species, mainly natives of tropical regions, especially American and African. In ad- 

 dition to the following, 4 others occur in the western part of the United States. 

 Leaves 3-foliolate; flowers pink, or white. i. C. serrulata. 



Leaves, at least the lower, s-y-foliolate. 



Flowers pink, or white. 2. C. spinosa. 



Flowers yellow. 3. C. lutea. 



sf M$r .. 



i. Cleome serrulata Pursh. Pink 

 Cleome. (Fig. 1791.) 



Cleome serrulata Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 441. 1814. 

 Cleome inlegrifolia T. & G. Fl. N. A. i: 122. 1838. 



Erect, glabrous, 2-3 high, branching 

 above. Leaves 3-foliolate, the lower long and 

 slender-petioled, the upper sessile or nearly so; 

 leaflets lanceolate or oblong, acute, entire or 

 distantly serrulate, \ f -$ f long; fruiting racemes 

 greatly elongated; bracts lanceolate or 

 linear, often mucronate; pedicels slender, 

 spreading or recurved and 6 // -io // long in 

 fruit; stipe of the pod about equalling the 

 pedicel; flowers pink or white, very showy; 

 petals oblong, slightly clawed, 5 // -6 // long, 

 obtuse; pods linear, acute, I'-z' long. 



Prairies, northern Illinois to Minnesota and 

 the Canadian Rocky Mountains, southwest to 

 Kansas, New Mexico and Arizona. Naturalized 

 from the west, in its eastern range. July-Sept. 



2. Cleome spinosa L. Spider- 

 flower. (Fig. 1792.) 



Cleome spinosa L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 939. 1763. 

 Cleome pungens Willd. Enum. PI. 689. 1809. 

 Erect, 2-4 high, branching above, 

 clammy-pubescent. Leaves 5~7-foliolate, 

 the lower long-petioled, s'-S' in diameter, 

 the upper shorter-petioled or nearly ses- 

 sile, passing into the simple lanceolate or 

 cordate-ovate bracts of the raceme; peti- 

 oles spiny at the base; leaflets lanceolate 

 or oblong-lanceolate, acute, minutely 

 serrulate; flowers numerous, long-pedi- 

 celled, showy, purple or whitish, i' broad 

 or more; petals obovate, long-clawed; 

 stipe of the linear glabrous pod at length 

 2 / -6 / long; stamens variable in length, 

 often long-exserted. 



In waste places, southern New Jersey to 

 Florida, west to Illinois and Louisiana. 

 Sometimes cultivated for ornament. Fugi- 

 tive or adventive from tropical America. 

 Summer. 



