CrisUilMa. CAl'l'AKIDACE.E. 181 



* * * Herbaceous, auiiual: ovary 2-celk(l, diilymous, the cells l-2<)vuled; iu fruit each 

 carpel a nutlet or utricle separating by a small perforate cicatrix from the persistent an<l 

 indurated axis and rigid style: seed couduplicate: torus very short between the obovate- 

 spatulate petals and the 6 stameus. 



6. WISLIZENIA. Stamens with long and iiliform filaments and short anthers. Ovary 

 with lung filiform stipe : style long and filiform, soon indurated. Cai*l»els divaricate and 

 oblate-ol)ovate, in fruit coriaceous, reticulated, tilled by the solitary seed, tardily falling 

 away from tlie oval pertuse replum, the scar with thickish border ilntl small ojjeu centre. 

 Flowers racemose. 



7. OXYSTYLIS. Stamens little surpassing the petals. Ovary with short and stout stijR-. 

 style very long, subulate, and with the solid placental ba.se soon indurated and s])in»»ecent. 

 Carpels comparatively small, obovate ; in fruit smooth, thin and soft, coufornit^d to the obo- 

 vate couduplicate seed, the testa of which is cartilaginous. Flowers densely glomerate. 



Tribe II. CAPPAREiE. Fruit indfliisceiit, more or less lleshy or baccate. Shrubs 

 or trees. 



8. ATAMISQUEA. Sepals dissimilar ; two outer concave, valvate in the bud ; two inner 

 mucli smaller, spatulate. Petals 4, uneipial, small. T(jrns cyathiform and oblique, dentate, 

 bearing about 9 unequal stamens, of wliich three or four are reduced to stamiuodia. Ovary 

 loug-stipitate, ovoid, one-celled, with 4 parietal jduriovulate placentiu and a subsessile 

 stigma. Fruit globular, fleshy, lepidote-canescent, 1-2-seeded. Cotyledons plicate-convolute. 



9. CAPPARIS. Sepals 4. Petals 4. Stamens numerous, on a short torus: filaments 

 tiliforni or capillary. Ovary loug-stipitate, one-celled with 2 p.irietal plarentif in our 

 species, or spuriously 2-celled : stigma sessile. Fruit many-seeded, baccate, or sometimes 

 becoming dry and bursting irregularly. Embryo convolute : cotyledons foliaceous. 



1. ISOMERIS, Nutt. (Formed of lo-os, equal, /xcpt's, part, perhaps in allu- 

 sion to the equality of the stamens.) — Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 124; Hook, 

 Bot. Mag. t. 3842; Benth. & Hook. Gen. i. 106. — Single species. 



I. arborea, Nutt. 1. c. Low and stout or sometimes taller and arborescent shrul), with 

 hard yellow wood, ill-scented, puberulent: leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets oblong to lanceolate, 

 about the length of the petiole, entire, mucronate : flowers in terminal bracteate raceme: 

 most of the bracts simjile or unifoliolate : petals yellow : capsule inch or two long, long- 

 stipitate.i — Dry ground, S. California, from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border and the 

 Colorado Desert; first coll. by Th. Coulter; fl. summer. 



Var.* globosa, ('ovillk. Young stems not glaucous as in the type: capsules short 

 and thick, subglobose, truncate or nearly so. — Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. \\\. 7;), & Contrib. 

 U. S. Nat. Herb. iv. 67, t. 4. — Near Calieute, Keru Co., Ciilif., (''■'•''■'. Sni.! i.. Inff^rgrade 

 freely with the longer-fruited form. 



2. CRISTATELLA, Nutt. (A kind of diminutive of cristn, a crc^t, prob- 

 ably in allusion to the fringe-toothed petals.) — Two very similar species of 

 erect and branching annuals, leafy, puberulent and viscid ; with jietiolate pal- 

 mately 3-foliolate leaves, linear leaflets, and small slender-pedicelled racemoscly 

 disposed flowers in the axils of upper leaves, some of which are reduced to bracts : 

 petals white, cream-color, or yellowish, and stamens purplish. — Jour. Acad. 

 Philad. vii. 85, t. 9; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 123; (iray, Gen. 111. i. 177, t. 77. 

 Cyi-hasmm, Endl. Gen. 891. 



C. erosa, Nctt. I.e. 86. A foot or two high : petals very une(|Uiil : Made of the larger ront- 

 monly 3 lines long, and with claw idmost e(|ualling the dcej)!y dissected smaller ones : fila- 

 ments elongated, at first declined: cap.sules inch or two long, on stipe of about Ivfit-o ih<< 

 length of the marccscent gland : seeds smoothish. — Cyrbasium erosum, Emll. in Wulp. Kep. 



1 Add syn. Cleomc arborea, Greene, ?itt(.iii;i, i. 200. 



