118 ZYGOPHYLLACEiE. 



to the testa : cotyledons obovate, rather fleshy, their edges 

 directed to the raphe and to the axis of the fruit : kadicle 

 conical, superior. 



Herbs branching and diffuse, hairy, with the habit, in- 

 florescence, and foKage of Tribulus ; the leaves sometimes 

 alternate by the abortion of one of each pair. Stipules sub- 

 ulate. Flowers yellow or red. 



Etymology. Named in honor of some obscure botanist. 



Geographical Distribution, &c. This small genus, which is nearly 

 restricted to tropical America, was founded on the Tribulus maximus, 

 Linn., of the West Indies, also widely indigenous in Mexico, Texas, &c., 

 and sparingly naturalized in the Southern Atlantic States. With this, a 

 hexamerous Brazilian species has recently been associated; and a third, as 

 yet undescribed, occurs in Coulter's Mexican collection, and probably the 

 same is in the collection made by Major Emory. The specific name of K. 

 maxima is far from appropriate, as it is the humblest and smallest-flowered 

 species known ; but it seems that this is the Linnajan plant. It is not clear 

 whether the pistil is ten-carpellary, or whether there are five carpels, with 

 the cells divided by a spurious dorsal partition, as in the Flax. 



PLATE 146. Kallstromia maxima, Torr. 4" Gr.; — a branch, of the 

 natural size, in flower and fruit. 



1. Diagram of the flower (with the petals convolute in aestivation), includ- 



ing a transverse section of the ten-celled ovary. 



2. Enlarged flower, with the petals and the five larger stamens that ad- 



here to them, removed. 



3. A petal, with its stamen, enlarged. 



4. One of the smaller stamens, enlarged. 



5. Pistil and receptacle, vertically divided, magnified. 



6. One of the ovules more magnified. 



7. Fruit, with the calyx, enlarged ; two of the cocci detached. 



8. One of the detached cocci of the same. 



9. The same, vertically divided through the seed and embryo. 



10. Embryo of the same, detached entire (inverted) ; the cotyledons a little 

 opened. 



