196 



CRUCIFERAE. 



Vol. II. 



I. Cakile edentula (Bigel.) Hook. Amer- 

 ican Sea Rocket. Fig. 21 12. 



Bunias edentula Bigel. Fl. Bost. 157. 18 14. 



Cakile americana Nutt. Gen. 2: 62. 1818. 



Cakile edentula Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. i : 59. 1830. 



Very fleshy throughout, bushy-branched from 

 a deep root, the lower branches spreading or 

 ascending, the central ones erect, 1° in height or 

 less. Leaves oblanceolate, or obovate, obtuse, 

 sinuate-dentate or lobed, narrowed at the base, 

 the lower 3'-s' long; flowers light purple, 2"-^" 

 broad ; petals long-clawed, more than twice the 

 length of the sepals; pod 6"-lo" long, upper 

 joint slightly longer than the lower, ovoid, 

 angled, flattened, narrowed into a beak above; 

 lower joint obovoid, not flattened. 



In sands of the seashore, Newfoundland to New 

 Jersey and Florida, and along the Great Lakes, New 

 York to Minnesota. Also on the California coast. 

 Summer. 



Family 39. CAPPARIDACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 61. 1836. 



Caper Family. 



Herbs or shrubs (rarely trees), with a watery sap, alternate or very rarely 

 opposite, simple or palmately compound leaves and axillary or terminal, solitary 

 or racemose, regular or irregular, mostly perfect flowers. Sepals 4-8. Petals 

 4 (rarely none), sessile or clawed. Receptacle elongated or short. Stamens 6-00, 

 not tetradynamous, inserted on the receptacle ; anthers oblong. Ovary sessile or 

 stipitate ; style generally short ; ovules 00 , borne on parietal placentae. Fruit a 

 capsule or berry. Seeds mainly reniform in our species ; endosperm none ; embryo 

 generally coiled. 



A family of about 35 genera and 450 species, mostly of warm regions. 



Pod long-stipitate on its pedicel ; stamens 4-6. 

 Pod linear-elongated ; petals generally clawed. 



Petals entire. i. Cleome. 



Petals laciniate. 2. Cristatella. 



Pod short, rhomboid ; petals sessile. 3. Cleomella. 



Pod nearly or quite sessile on its pedicel ; stamens more than 6. 4. Polanisia. 



I. CLEOME L. Sp. PI. 671. 1753. 



Herbs or low shrubs, generally branching. Leaves digitately 3-S-folioIate, or simple. 

 Leaflets entire or serrulate. Calyx 4-divided or of 4 sepals, often persistent. Petals 4, cru- 

 ciate, nearly equal, entire, more or less clawed. Receptacle short, slightly prolonged above 

 the petal-bases. Stamens 6 (rarely 4), inserted on the receptacle above the petals. Ovary 

 stalked, with a gland at its base. Capsule elongated, long-stipitate, many-seeded. [Deriva- 

 tion uncertain; perhaps from the Greek, to shut.] 



About 75 species, mainly natives of tropical regions, especially American and African. In addi- 

 tion to the following, 4 others occur in the western part of the United States. Type species: 

 Cleome gynandra L., of tropical regions, which has been found as a waif in waste grounds on 

 Staten Island, N. Y. 



Leaves 3-foliolate ; flowers pink, or white. 

 Leaves, at least the lower, 5-7-foliolate. 



Flowers pink, or white. • 



Flowers yellow. 



1. C. serrulata. 



2. C spinosa, 



3. C. lutea. 



