68 MIGNONETTE FAMILY. 



XI. CAPPAEIDACE^:, CAPER FAMILY. 



Herbs (in our region) resembling Cruciferce, but with sta- 

 mens not tetradynamous and often more than 6, no partition 

 in the pod (which is therefore 1 -celled with two parietal pla- 

 centae), and kidney-shaped seeds, the embryo rolled up instead 

 of folded together ; the leaves commonly palmately compound, 

 and the herbage bitter and nauseous instead of pungent. But 

 in warm regions the cress-like pungency sometimes appears, 

 as in capers, the pickled flower-buds of CAPPARIS SPINOSA of 

 the Levant. This and its near relatives are trees or shrubs. 



1. CLEOME. Calyx 4-cleft. Petals 4. Stamens 6, on a short, thickened receptacle. Ovary 



and many-seeded pod in ours raised above the receptacle on a long stalk. Style very 

 short or none. Usually an appendage on 1 side of the receptacle. 



2. POLANISIA. Sepals 4. Stamens S-32. Ovary and pod sessile or short-stalked on the 



receptacle. Style present. Otherwise nearly as in No. 1. 



3. GYNANDROPSI8. Sepals 4. Stamens borne on the long stalk of the ovary far above 



the petals. Otherwise as in No. 1. 



1. CLEOME. (Name of uncertain derivation.) 



C. pungens, Willd. Tall (2-4 high), clammy-pubescent, with little 

 spines or prickly points (whence the name) in place of stipules, about 7 



and a raceme of large and handsome flowers, with long-clawed, pink or 

 purple petals and declined stamens. Cult, from S. A., and run wild S. 



C. integrif6lia, Torr. & Gray, much smaller, smooth, with 8 leaflets 

 and the pink petals without claws, is wild in Minn, to Kans., and cult, in 

 gardens, also for bees under the name ROCKT MOUNTAIN BEE PLANT. 



2. POLANISIA. (Greek : many unequal, referring to the stamens.) 

 P. grav&olens, Raf . A heavy-scented (as the name denotes) , rather 



clammy, low herb, with 3 oblong leaflets, and small flowers with short 

 white petals, about 11 scarcely longer purplish stamens, and a short style ; 

 flowers summer. Wild on gravelly shores from Vt. to Md. and W. 



3. GYNANDROPSIS. (Greek : meaning that the stamens appear to 

 be on the pistil.) (Lessons, Fig. 357.) 



G. pentaphylla, DC. Clammy-pubescent weed, with 5 leaflets to the 

 leaves and 3 to the bracts ; the white petals on claws. West Indies ; 

 naturalized from Carolina, S. 



XH. RESEDACEJE, MIGNONETTE FAMILY. 



Herbs, with inconspicuous flowers in spikes or racemes. 



1. RESEDA, MIGNONETTE, etc. (Latin : to calm, from supposed 

 sedative properties.) Calyx 4-7-parted, never closed even in the bud ; 

 petals 4-7, unequal, cleft or notched, those of one side of the flower ap- 

 pendaged within ; stamens 10-40, borne on a sort of disk dilated on 

 one side of the flower ; ovary and pod composed of 3-0 carpels, united not 

 quite to the top into a 3-6-lobed or 3-6-horned, 1-celled pistil which 



