CAPPARIDACEAE CLEOME 497 



2. Polanisia Raf. 



Clammy herbs with whitish or yellowish flowers, palmately compound or 

 simple leaves; flowers produced in racemes; sepals 4, deciduous; petals with 

 claws and notched at the apex; receptacle not elongated, bearing a gland at the 

 base of the ovary; stamens 8-numerous, unequal; pod linear or oblong, turgid, 

 many-seeded, seeds reticulated. About 14 species in tropical and temperate 

 regions. Annuals, with glandular hairs; common in sandy soils or on railroad 

 embankments. 



Polanisia graveolens Raf. Clammy-weed 



The near relative of the Rocky Mountain bee plant is a clammy weed with 

 loose racemes of conspicuous flowers ; petals with claws ; stamens 8-32 ; pod linear 

 or oblong, turgid, many-seeded. 



Poisonous properties. The same may be said of this as of Cleome. It 

 is a clammy, pubescent weed with very pungent properties. 



3. Cleomella DC. 



Annual herbs with 3-5 foliolate leaves, calyx of 4 sepals; flowers generally 

 in racemes; petals 4, entire, without claws; receptacle short; stamens 6, in- 

 serted on the receptacle; ovary short, long-stalked; pod linear to oblong, many- 

 seeded. About 75 species, found chiefly in southwestern North America and 

 Mexico. 



Cleomella angustifolia Torr 



A glabrous annual from 1-2 feet high, leaflets 3, linear lanceolate or linear 

 oblong, bracts simple; flowers small, yellow; pod rhomboidal, raised on a 

 slender stipe, but shorter than the pedicel, few seeded. 



Distribution. From Nebraska and Kansas to Texas, New Mexico and 

 Colorado. Abundant in waste places. 



SARRACENIALES 



Carnivorous plants secreting a viscid liquid ; radical leaves ; scapose flowers ; 

 corolla choripetalous ; sepals generally distinct; stamens usually free; ovary 

 compound superior. Contains the families Droseraceae, Sarraceniaceae and 

 Nepenthaceae ; the genus Sarracenia has 6 species in eastern North America; 

 S. purpurea, found as far west as Minnesota, contains the alkaloid Sarracenin. 

 Darllngtonia calif ornica occurs in California and Oregon. Heliamphora is 

 native to Guiana. The family Nepenthaceae with 40 species is found mostly in 

 the India-Malayan regions ; some species being frequently cultivated in green- 

 houses. The plants of these orders are insectivorous, capable of digesting in- 

 sects. 



DROSERACEAE 



Perennial or biennial glandular pubescent bog herbs or somewhat shrubby 

 phnts; leaves mostly from the base with tentacles, which secrete 3 viscid sub- 

 stan^e to catch insects; circinnate in the bud; flowers perfect, racemose; calyx 

 persistent, 4-8 parted, or the sepals distinct; petals 5 free; stamens 8-20; ovary 

 free, 1-3-celled; styles 1-5, simple 2-cleft; capsule 1-5-celled. A small order of 

 125 species of wide distribution. The most important genus is Prosera, com- 

 monly called sundew, the tentacles of which secrete a viscid fluid which catches 



