270 ORDER XLIII. LEGUMINOS^. 



Genus IV.— CEANO'THUS. L. 5—1. 



(From the Greek keanothos, a spring plant.) 



Calyx campanulate, 5-cleft. Petals 5, saccate and arched, 

 unguiculate. Stamens 5, exsert. Disk fleshy at the margin, 

 surrounding the ovary. Ovary composed of 3 united carpels, 

 3-celled, with 3 ovules. Fruit a dry, triangular, 3-celled, 3- 

 valved capsule, 1 seed in each cell. Seeds obovate. Small 

 shrubs, unarmed, with alternate leaves. Flowers perfect. 



1. C. America'nus, (L.) Root large, dark red. Stem frutescent, the 

 young brandies pubescent. Leaves ovate, or oblong-ovate, 3-nerved, 

 acutely serrate, veins beneath very hairy, reflexed. Petals with long 

 claws, inclosing the stamen. Disk with a 10-toothed border. Seeds 

 convex, externally concave within. — White. ^ . June — July. Common 

 in Middle Geo. and Car. 1 — 3 feet. New Jersey Tea. 



2. C. microphyl'lus, (Mich.) Stem much branched, many from each 

 root, branches straight, slender, glabrous, yellow. Leaves small, obo- 

 vate, clustered, glabrous on the upper surface, 3-nerved, somewhat 

 denticulate, or entire. Flowers a loose raceme. Peduncles slender. — 

 White. ^ . April. Sandy pine forests. Common. 1 — 2 feet. 



3. C. serpyllifo'lius, (Nutt.) A small, slender shrub, decumbent, 

 diffusely branched, branches filiform. Leaves very small, ovate-ellip- 

 tical, serrulate, obtuse, the lower surface as well as the petioles strigose. 

 Peduncles axillary. Flowers few, in a simple corymbose head. — White. 

 ^ . St. Mary's, Ga. 



The Ceanothus Americanus, commonly known by the names of New Jersey Tea 

 and Red-root, has enjoyed considerable reputation among the Faculty. It takes the 

 former name from its'leaves havins: been used by the American army, as a substitute 

 for tea, during the Revolutionary War. In apthous sore mouth, it has been highly 

 recommended, and in the sore throat accompanying Scarlet Fever. 



Order XLIII.— LEG UMINO'S^E. 



Sepals 5, united into a 5-toothed calyx, hypogynous, seg- 

 ments often unequal and variously combined, the odd segment 

 inferior. Petals 5, sometimes none, or less than 5 by abortion, 

 inserted into the base of the calyx, sometimes regular,' at others 

 papilionaceous, the odd petal superior. Stamens generally 

 definite, distinct, monadelphous, or diadelphous. Anthers ver- 

 satile. Ovary simple, 1-cellecl, 1 or many seeded. Stigma 

 simple. Fruit generally a legume, sometimes a drupe. Seeds 

 1 or several, attached to the upper section ; heterotropous or 

 anatropous, sometimes with one aril, or large caruncle. Em- 

 bryo straight, destitute of albumen, or with the radical curved 

 along the edge of the cotyledons. Leaves alternate, stipulate, 

 mostly compound, leaflets entire. 



Exotics and genera not falling strictly in our geographical limits, are 

 mostly omitted in the Analyses. 



