222 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



or abortive (rarely didy uamous) . Capsule silique-form, cylindric, long, 

 2-valved ; septum thickish, opposite the valves. Seeds numerous, trans- 

 verse, compressed, produced at each end into a membranous wing, which 

 is fringed or comose at apex. Trees. Flowers m terminal panicles. 



1, C. bignonioi'des, Walt. Leaves cordate, acuminate, entire, pubes- . 

 cent beneath ; panicles pyramidal, trichotomously branched. 

 BiGNONiA-LiKE Catalpa. Catawba. Bean-tree. 



iSfem 15-25 feet high, with irregular spreading branches. Leaves 4-8 or 10 inches in 

 length ; j5eiir>Zes 2 - 6 inches long, terete, smoothish. CoroZZa whitish, tinged with violet- 

 purple, the throat spotted with purple and yellow, the lobes unequal, crenatc and wavy. 

 Capsule 6-12 or 15 inches long, and about half an inch in diameter, pendulous, persistent. 

 Seeds lance-oblong, about half an inch in length, apparently of 2 flat oval divaricate lobes, 

 connate at base, with a membranous covering which is extended at the margin, and 

 especially at the apex, each apex terminating in a slender filamentous tuft or coma. 



About farm-houses and along streams : Southern, Western and Middle States. Fl. June - 

 July. -fV. October. 



Obs. Cultivated as a shade tree, but indigenous in the South-west 

 In the latitude of New Tork the larger branches, and frequently the 

 whole tree, are killed by a severe winter. 



SuB-ORDEE 2. Sesames. 



Herbs with the fruit more or less 5-celled. Seeds not winged. 



3. MARTY'NIA, L. TJnicorn-plant. 



[Named in honor of John Ilartyn, Prof, of Botany at Cambridge, England.] 



Calyx 5-cleft, with 2-3 small bracts at base. Corolla irregular, cara- 

 panulate, gibbous at base, — the limb unequally 5-lobed. Stamens 

 mostly 4, didynamous, with a fifth rudimentary one, — sometimes all, 

 sometimes 2 only, bearing anthers. Capsule somewhat 4-celled, 2-valved, 

 woody with a coriaceous and finally deciduous coat, ovoid-oblong, ter- 

 minating in a curved beak at apex, — the beak parting into 2 horns, but 

 the capsule scarcely dehiscent. Seeds few in each cell, arranged in a 

 single series along the septum, somewhat baccate, finally tuberculate- * 

 rugose. 



1. M. probosci'dea, Glox. Stem branching ; leaves orbicular-cordate 

 entire, petiolate, — the upper ones alternate ; beaks longer than the per- 

 icarp. 



LoNG-BEAKED Martynia. Unicom Plant. 



Plant pale green, viscid-pubescent and fetid. i2oo< annual. Stem leaning or procum- 

 bent, 1-2 feet long, branching, fistular. Leaves 2-5 inches long ; petioles 2-6 inches 

 long. Flowers SLxWlSiTy ; peduncles 1 - S inches long. Corolla large, pale greenish yellow 

 or ochroleucous, with orange-colored or brownish spots within. Capsule 2-3 inches long, 

 somewhat sulcate in front, with a bipartible crest-like fringe along the suture in the broad 

 shallow groove, tapering to a beak which is 2-3 or 4 inches long, and finally split into two 

 rigid horns, which are incurved like claws. 



South-western States : gardens: cultivated. J'L July -August, i^r. Sept. - October. 



Obs. This plant — a native of the valley of the Mississippi, and the 

 plains of Mexico — is cultivated for its singular fruit — which, in its 



