berberidace.'e. s9 



Plate 37. 

 CROOMIA, Torr. 



Petala 4, persistentia. Petala nulla. Stamina 4, antheris 

 introrsis longitudinaliter dehiscentibus. Ovarium 3-6-ovu- 

 latum ; ovulis apice placentas unilateralis e summo loculo 

 pendulis. Pericarpium coriaceum demum bivalve. Semina 

 1-2, arillo criniformi obtecta. Embryo minimus. — Herba 

 gracilis; foliis tcnuibus, cordato-oblongis, integerrimis, 5 — 9- 

 costatis, in apice caulis approximatis ; pedunculis 2 — 3-floris. 



Croomia, Torr. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Am. 1. (Suppl.) p. 663. 



Calyx of 4 broadly oval and nearly herbaceous sepals, 

 imbricated in two series in sestivation (two exterior and two 

 interior), persistent. Petals none. Stamens 4, hypogy- 

 nous, one opposite each sepal : filaments stout : anthers 

 shorter than the filament, obliquely introrse, fixed by the 

 middle, the oval or oblong cells opening by a longitudinal 

 line down the inner side. Ovary ovate-globose, one-celled, 

 tipped with a depressed and entire sessile stigma. Ovules 

 3 to 6, attached to the apex of a filiform placenta which is 

 adherent to one side of the cell for the whole length, thus 

 suspended, anatropous. 



Fruit globose-ovate, apiculate ; the dry pericarp coria- 

 ceous, tardily two-valved from the apex ; the valves parallel 

 with the inner sepals. Seeds mostly 2, suspended each by 

 a short filiform funiculus, globose-oval, marked with a slen- 

 der raphe terminating in a broad apical chalaza, covered, ex- 

 cept the chalazal end, with a wig-shaped arillus composed of 

 copious slender and fleshy threads. Embrjo next the hiluin 

 in fleshy albumen, minute, globose-ovoid, obscurely two- 

 lobed (if we mistake not) at the cotyledonar extremity. 



Herb low and slender, from a horizontal creeping rhizo- 

 ma. Stem simple, provided with two or three alternate 

 7 



