CLAYTÒNIA virginica.
Virginian Claytonia.
N a tu ra lO rd e r. P O U T U L A C EÆ . DC. prodr 3. p. 351.
C L A Y T O N IA . Cai/x disepalus, persistens ; sepalis ovatis, oppositis.
P e ta la 5, obcordata aut obovata (raro elliptica) hypogyna æqualia ungui-
culata, unguibus basi subconnatis. Stamina 5 ad ungues petalorum inserta.
Ovarium sessile. Stylus 1 trifidus, ramulis intùs stigmotosis. Capsiite l- lo -
cularis, 3-valvis, 3-sperma. Fila conductoria 3 antè foecundationem à pla-
centà centrali ad styli basin directa. Semina sessilia.— Herbæ glabrce, subsucculenta,
sapiàs perennes. Eolia integerrima, radicalia petiolata, summa
scepiùs opposita, sessitia, interdùm connata. Racemi terminales. Flores albi
aut rosei. DC . prodr. 3. p. 360.
C. virginica, foliis elongato-linearibus utrinque acutis uninerviis summis
sessilibus, racemi pedicellis solitariis ebracteatis, sepalis ovatis obtusis,
petalis obovatis retusis. „ . „ . , ■.»-
C lad on ia virginica. Linn. spec. 294. Pursh. f l . amer. sept. 1. p. 175.
Spreng. s y s t .l . p .7 9 1 . Pluh. ph y t. 212. Ì .1 0 2 . / .3 .
Root tuberous, very large, producing numerous leaves
and scapes. Leaves rather succulent, long and narrow, elongated,
linear-lanceolate, acute, tapering to both ends one-
nerved, smooth and glossy, of a dark green above, paler beneath
: lower ones attenuated down the long slender footstalk;
those of the stem opposite, sessile, channelled. Scapes
radical, smooth and glossy, each bearing two leaves, and a
many-flowered raceme, the lower part faintly stained with
red. Racemes drooping, and involute before the expansion
of the flowers, afterwards becoming erect. Flowers white, alternate.
Pedicles smooth and glossy, one-flowere^
when the flower is expanded, afterwards recurved. Lalyx ot
two sepals; the sepals broadly ovate, concave inwards, striate
on the back, bluntly rounded at the points; the margins
membranaceous. Petals 5, twice the length of the calyx, obovate,
with a small notch at the end, and slightly crenulate,
veined, the veins at first faint, and scarcely perceptible, but
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