CLASS XV. TETRAD YN AMI A.* 
(four powers.) 
The flowers of this class are furnished with six stamina* 
four of which are long and two short. It corresponds with 
the siliquosa of Ray, and the crucifonfies of Tournefort, This 
class (except in one genus, cleoMe 3 in which the stamina, in 
many oi the species, are joined to a footstalk supporting 
the germen, and ought therefore rather to belong to the class 
gynandria) is truly natural; and admits of the following 
character: 
Calyx. A perianthium, oblong, consisting of four leaves, 
oblong-egg-shaped, concave, blunt, converging, gibbous 
at the base, standing opposite in equal pairs, deciduous 
with the corolla. The nectarium is a part of, and formed 
in the calyx, and often occasions it to be gibbous. 
Corolla. Four petals, cruciform, equal; claws flattish, awl- 
shaped, erect, rather longer than the calyx, limb or border 
flat, the laminae broadest towards the end, blunt, the sides 
scarcely touching each other. The insertion of the petals 
is in the receptacle along with the stamina. 
Stamina. Filaments six,fixed in the receptacle, awl-shaped, 
erect; of which the two shorter, that are opposite, are as 
long as the calyx ; the Other four rather longer, but not 
so long as the corolla. The antherae rather oblong, taper, 
thicker at the base, erect, the -tops bending outwards. 
The nectaria are glands, which appear different in 
different genera; they are seated on the stamina, and are 
fixed on the inside of the base of the shorter filaments, 
which are generally bent, that they may not press upon 
the glands of the nectaria; and they thereby appear 
shorter than the others; but they are fixed on the out 
side of the base of the longer stamina, as in sinctpis, &c* 
* The plants of this class are held to be antiscorbutic, the taste acrid and Watery i 
in moist and wet situations their qualities are strongest; but they lose most of their 
virtues by drying. None are poisonous. These plants applied externally are use¬ 
ful in diseases of the skin, as itch, leprosy, &e. 
