PEDALIACEiE. 



Martynia. 



Order LXVII. PEDALIACEiE. R. Br. The Oil-seed Tribe. 



Calyx 5-cleft or 5-parted ; the segments nearly equal. Corolla irregular ; the 

 tube ventricose ; limb somewhat 2-lipped, 5-lobed. Stamens 4, didynamous 

 (two of them sometimes sterile), with the rudiment of a fifth. Ovary seated 

 on a glandular disk, formed of 2 carpels, 2-celled, or sometimes 1-celled from 

 the dissepiments not reaching the axis ; or with several (4 - 8) spurious cells, 

 from adhesions between the placenta? and walls of the ovary : style single : 

 stigma bilamellate. Ovules few or solitary in each spurious cell. Fruit in- 

 durated or drupaceous, often with a horn at the summit, which at length splits 

 into two. Seeds few, large, pendulous or erect, not winged. Albumen none. 

 Embryo straight. — Mostly viscid herbs, with opposite or alternate (often 

 angular or sinuate) leaves and axillary flowers. 



1. MARTYNIA. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 417 5. martynia. 



[ In honor of John Martvn, Professor of Botany in Cambridge, England.] 



Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla somewhat campanulate. Fruit woody, corticate, 4-celled, with a long 

 hooked beak, which splits into two horns at maturity : axis perforated/ — Viscid annuals, 

 with opposite or alternate leaves, and large axillary flowers. 



I. Martynia Proboscidea, Willd. Unicorn-plant. 



Leaves alternate, cordate, entire, villous ; flowers on long peduncles. — Willd. sp. 3. p. 264; 

 Bot. mag. t. 1056 ; Mill, ic t. 286 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 428 ; Torr. compend. p. 243 ; Beck, 

 bot. p. 246. M. alternifolia, Lam. enc. 2. p. 112. M. annua, Linn. sp. 2. p. 618. 



Stem thick, decumbent, viscidly pubescent, 1 — 2 feet long. Leaves roundish-cordate, 

 3-5 inches in diameter. Flowers large, dull yellowish white and spotted. Fruit (including 

 the horn) 4-5 inches long, oblong, acuminate, tapering into a very long curved point, of a 

 woody texture, with a coriaceous bark, at length splitting into two valves, each of which 

 terminates in a long horn. Seeds few in each spurious cell, inserted one over the other, 

 pendulous ; the testa thick and rough. 



Banks of rivers and cultivated grounds, occurring sometimes as a weed. On the Hudson 

 above Albany, &c. Introduced from the Southwestern States. Fl. August - September. 

 A fetid plant, but showy when in flower, and remarkable for its singular fruit. 



