VALEBIANACEuE. (VALERIAN FAMILY.) 183 



22. GELSEMIUM, Juss. Yellow JEssAiMiNE. 



Plowers dimorphous. Calyx 5-parted, persistent. Corolla funnel-shaped, 5- 

 lobed ; the lobes rounded, emarginate, spreading, quincuncial in the bud, the 

 sinuses impressed. Stamens 5, inserted near the base of the corolla : anthers 

 oblong-sagittate, extrorse. Styles united, filiform, partly persistent. Stigmas 

 4, linear, spreading. Capsule oblong, compressed, 2-celled, opening septicidally 

 to the middle, and loculicidally at the apex, each valve tipped with the persistent 

 base of the styles. Seeds several, oval, flat, winged, obliquely imbricated in two 

 rows. — A smooth woody vine, with opposite evergreen leaves, minute stipules, 

 and large yellow fragrant flowers, in axillary bracted and cluster-like racemes. 



1. G. sempervirens, Ait. — Margins of swamps, and river-banks, Flor- 

 ida to North Carolina, and westward. March and April. — Stem twining, pur- 

 plish. Leaves lanceolate or ovate, acute or subcordate at the base, short-petioled. 

 Racemes few-flowered. Pedicels scaly. Corolla I'-l J' long. 



Okder 71. VALERIANACEiE. (Valerian Family.) 



Herbs with opposite exstipulate leaves, and cymose flowers. — Calyx- 

 tube adherent to the ovary. Corolla tubular or funnel-shaped, mostly 5- 

 "lobed, imbricated in the bud. Stamens distinct, fewer than the corolla- 

 lobes, and inserted into its tube. Ovary 3-eelled, two of which are empty, 

 the third containing a single suspended anatropous ovule. Style slender. 

 Stigmas 1-3. Fruit 1 - 3-celled, 1-seeded. Albumen none. 



1. VALEEIANA, Toum. Valekian. 



Limb of the calyx composed of several plumose bristles, at first incurved, 

 afterward spreading. Corolla gibbons at the base, 5-lobed. Stamens 3. Fruit 

 1-celled, 1-seeded. — Perennials. 



1. V. scandens, L. Smooth,- stem climbing ; leaves on slender petioles, 

 temately divided ; leaflets ovate, entire ; cymes paniculate, diffuse, axillary and 

 terminal ; corolla very short. — East Florida. 



2. v. pauciflora, Michx Smooth; stem (I'l'-so) erect, or decumbent 

 at the base, simple ; leaves membranaceous, toothed or serrate, the radical ones 

 mostly entire, ovate or cordate, long-petioled, the others pinnately 3 - 7-lobed ; 

 cymes terminal, in a close panicle ; tube of the pale pink corolla long and slen- 

 der. — Mountains of Tennessee, and northward. June and July. 



2. FEDIA, Moench. Lamb-Lettuce. 



Calyx-limb toothed or obsolete. Corolla funnel-shaped, 5-lobed. Stamens 3. 

 Fruit 3-celled, two of the cells empty and sometimes confluent into one, the other 

 1-seeded. — Annual herbs, with forking stems, opposite entire or lobed leaves, 

 and white or purplish flowers in crowded bracted cymes. 



