POPULAR FLORA. 



207 



3. NoDDiSG T. Leaves nearly sessile, rhombic-ovate ; flower small, on a short peduncle curved 



down iinder the leaves; petals oblong-ovate, pointed, recurved, wavy. E. & S. T, cemuum. 



4. EiiiiCT T. or Birtiikoot. Leaves sessile, round-rhombic 



■with a very abrupt point; flower on a nearly upright pe- 

 duncle; petals ovate, acutish, spreading, dull purple or some- 

 times greenish-white. Common N- T. erecium. 



6. Great-klowered T. Leaves and peduncle nearly as in 

 No. 4; petals obovate, erect at the base, then gi-adually 

 spreading much longer and broader than the sepals, white, 

 turning rose-color Avhen old. N. and W. T. grandiflbrum. 



6. Painted T. Leaves petioled, pale green, ovate, taper-pointed ; 

 flower on an upright peduncle; petals lance-ovate, point- 

 ed, widely spreading, longer tlian the sepals, wavy, white, 

 adorned with delicate pinli-purple stripes at the base. Cold 

 damp woods, &c. N. T. erythrocdrpum. 



Indian Cucumber-root. Medeola. 

 Stem V to 3° high, from a white tuberous horizontal rootstock, having the taste of a cucumber, 

 bearing near the middle a whorl of 5 to 9 ob ovate-lanceolate pointed sessile leaves, and at the top 

 one of 3 ovate smaller leaves, and a few small greenish-yellow flowers in an -umbel, on recurved stalks. 

 Sepals and petals each 3, oblong and alike, recurved. Stamens G: filaments longer than the anthers. 

 Stigmas 3, sessile, long and thread-shaped. Ovary one, making a round S-ceiled and few-seeded beri-y. 

 One species, in damp woods; flowering in summer. .1/. Virginica. 



95. SPIDERWORT FAMILY. Order COMMELYNACEiE. 

 Tender herbs, with alternate parallel-veined leaves sheathing at the base, and 

 perfect flowers, having 3 green or greenish sepals and 3 petals on the receptacle. 

 Pistil one, with one long style and one stigma. Pod small, 3-celled or sometimes 

 2-celled, few-seeded. Flowers opening in the morning for only one day, the 

 delicate (treneraUy blue or purple) petals then melting away. There are two 

 genera wild; and the Spiderwort is cultivated in every flower-garden. 



Flowers regular: the 3 petals and 6 stamens 

 all alilvc: filaments beai'ded with joint- 

 ed colored hairs : leaves lance-linear, 

 sessile, all alike, ( Trade&cdniln) Spiderwort. 



Flowers irregular: two of the petals kidney- 

 shaped on long claws, and one smaller: 

 stamens unequal, only three of them 

 with good anthers : filaments naked : 

 lower leaves with sheathing footstalks, 

 the uppermost sessile and somewhat 

 heart-shaped, ( Commelyna) Day-floweb. 



er (irSpulervvorl. 



I, m.isiufied; the ovary cut acrosi. 



