VOL. II.] 



CAPER FAMILY. 157 



i. Cleomella angustifolia Torr. Northern 

 Cleomella. (Fig. 1795.) 



Cleomella angiistifolia Torr.; A. Gray, PI. Wright, i: 12. 



1852. 



Generally erect, i-i^ high, branching above. 

 Leaflets linear-lanceolate or linear-oblong, longer than 

 the petiole; bracts linear, simple; flowers yellow, 2 X/ - 

 3" broad; pedicels very slender, Yi f long in fruit; pod 

 flattened, rhomboid, 1"-$" broad, about 2 /x high, 

 pointed, raised on a very slender stipe 2 // -4 // long, its 

 valves almost conic; placentae persistent after the 

 valves fall away, each bearing about 3 seeds. 



Prairies, Nebraska and Colorado to Texas and New 

 Mexico. Summer. 



4. POLANISIA Raf. Journ. Phys. 89: 98. 1819. 



Annual branching herbs, mainly glandular-pubescent and exhaling a strong disagreeable 

 odor, with whitish or yellowish flowers, and palmately compound or rarely simple leaves. 

 Sepals 4, lanceolate, deciduous. Petals slender or clawed. Receptacle depressed, bearing a 

 gland at the base of the ovary. Stamens 8- x, somewhat unequal. Pod nearly or quite ses- 

 sile on its pedicel, elongated, cylindric or compressed, its valves dehiscent from the summit. 

 Seeds rugose or reticulated. [Greek, very unequal, referring to the stamens.] 



A genus of about 14 species, natives of temperate and tropical regions. In addition to the fol- 

 lowing, 2 other species are found in the southern and western parts of North America. 



Stamens equalling or slightly exceeding the petals; flowers 2" -3" long. 

 Stamens much exceeding the petals; flowers 4" -6" long. 



1. P. graveolens. 



2. P. trachysperma. 



i. Polanisia graveolens Raf. Clammy-weed. (Fig. 1796.) 



Cleome dodecandra Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 

 a; 32. 1803. Not L. 1753. 



Polanisia graveolens Raf. Am. Journ. Sci. 

 i: 378. 1819. 



Viscid and glandular-pubescent.branch- 

 ing, 6 / -i8 / high. Leaves 3-foliolate, 

 slender-petioled; leaflets oblong, obtuse, 

 entire, 6 // -i2 // long ; sepals purplish, 

 slightly unequal; petals cuneate, clawed, 

 deeply emarginate or obcordate, yellow- 

 ish-white; stamens 9-12, purplish, equal- 

 ling or slightly exceeding the petals; 

 style about i // long; pod lanceolate-ob- 

 long, slightly compressed, i'-iyi' long, 

 3 // -4 // wide, slightly stipitate, rough, 

 reticulated; seeds rough. 



Sandy and gravelly shores, western Que- 

 bec to Manitoba and the Northwest Terri- 

 tory, south to southern New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Kansas and Colorado. Summer. 



