I n I ii' III :ii
inch long. Stipules ovate, acute, membranous, persistent.
Floioers stalked, drooping, axillary, or issuing from the forks
of the branches, solitary, or in pairs, sometimes terminating
the branches, and then somewhat corymbose. Peduncles angular,
glabrous, about half an inch long, thickened at the
apex. Calyx 5-parted, segments oval, obtuse, concave, imbricate
in aestivation, the border white, thin, membranous,
and slightly torn. Petals 5, alternating with and longer than
the segments of the calyx, obovate, unguiculate, whitish and
torn at the top, the rest of a saffron-colour, and dotted. Stamens
10, perigynous. Pilaments aw\-sh.a^cdi, of a deep saffron
colour, with the points white and attenuated, furnished
at their inner base with a flat, linear, saffron-coloured
appendage, torn at the top, and about half their length. Anthers
incumbent, oblong-cordate, mucronulate, of a rich
saffron-colour, composed of two parallel connate cells, opening
lengthways. Gynobase fleshy, depressed, and flattened.
Ovarium 5-sided, 5-celled, about an inch long. Style shorter
than the ovarium, awl-shaped, white. Stigma very small,
blunt. Ovula oblong, compressed, inserted in an alternate
order, along the margin of the placentae, which are 5 in number,
very narrow, almost filiform, formed by the thickening
of the inner edge of the Septa.
This is a very old inhabitant of our gardens, having been cultivated by
G erard, in 1596, b u t it is still by no means common. I t appears to delight
in a gravelly loam, and, if properly treated, produces an abundance
of flowers, which are both curious and pretty. I t is perennial, and quite
h a rd y ; and may be increased by division, or by seeds.
Our drawing was taken in Ju ly last, a t the Botanic Garden, Chelsea,
where the plant being favourably placed at the foot of the rock-work, near
the edge of a gravel walk, had attained the height of 4 feet, and was then
clothed w ith blossoms.
W e willingly follow Mr. Brown in separating this from Zygophyllmn,
from which it is distinguished by several important characters, especially
by the position of the radicle, with respect to the hilum. In Z . macrop-
ternm of Ledebour, the latte r character is still more remarkable. This
species, which had been named by the illustrious P a lla s , Zygophyllum son-
garicum, may be distinguished by the following characters :—
F . maci-optera, foliis pinnatis, capsulis 5-alatis, seminibus angulatis
scabris. The appendages in this and in several other genera of this family,
are not to be regarded as a distinct set o f organs, b u t as forming an integral
p a rt of the stamina, and exhibiting their partial change from petals. The
natural place of the ZygophyllecE is clearly between Rutacea: and Oxalidece,
to both of wliich they are related in a nearly equal degree.
The generic name is derived from Raba, a bean, meaning a plan t resembling
the bean, which this does in its leaves. D . D m .
I. Sepul. 2. P e ta l. 3. T w o Stamens, with their appendages. 4. Pistil.
L|!il