79 
RUTA ALBIFLORA. 
White-flowered Rue. 
OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA, (DECANDR. rTi/W.)*— Nat. Ord. RUTACEJE. 
Gen. Char. — Cal. 4-5-partitus. Petala concava. Germen glandulo melli- 
fero auctum. Caps, lobata. 
Ruta alhiflora ; foliis bipinnatis, pinnulis obcordatis, floribus tetrapeta- 
lis, petalis obovatis integerrimis (albis), genuine pedicellato. 
Plant woody and apparently perennial, about a foot in height, forming a 
small, but handsome branching shrub : Stems and branches cylindrical, 
slightly tuberculated and hairy. Leaves numerous, crowded, glaucous, 
slightly hairy, bipinnate; Leajkts obcordate, rather thickish, having 
semipellucid glands, most apparent on the under side ; the whole giving 
out, when bruised, a smell similar to that of the Common Rue. 
Panicle terminal, compound, graceful; peduncles and pedicels slender, slight- 
ly hairy, each having a smallish obovate leaf-like bractea at its base. 
Flowers slightly drooping, the terminal one upon the branchlets rather 
the largest, pure white. Calyx small, persistent, of one piece, deep- 
ly cut into four ovate, spreading divisions, glandular on the outside, 
and notched at the margin. Petals four, obovate, erecto-patent, cadu- 
cous. Stamens mostly six in number, sometimes seven, sometimes eight, 
unequal in height, some exceeding the length of the corolla, others 
shorter than it, with white filaments and yellow anthers, and inserted 
around the base of a cup-shaped, rather large, fleshy nectary, of a whitish 
color, and toothed at the margin with small, glandular, obtuse, yellowish 
processes ; a few of which are seen on the back of the nectary. From 
the centre of this nectary arises the pedicellated germen, shorter, however, 
than the petals, deeply four, sometimes five, rarely three-lobed, glan- 
dular, each, just below the extremity, bearing a filiform style, which 
uniting with the others, seem in a measure incorporated, so as to form 
only one. As these germens advance to maturity, -they spread open, 
still, however, adhering by their styles for a time. Ovules six or eight 
in number, placed in two rows (some of them generally proving abor- 
tive) ; the more perfect ones or unripe seeds, ovate, striated and dotted ; 
inserted upon a small, spongy, roundish receptacle in the front of the 
cell. 
VOL. I. 
