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CHYMOCÁRPUS pentaphyllus
Five-leaved Chymocarpus.
Linnean Class and Order. O C T A N D R IA M O N O G Y N IA .
Natural Order. T R O P ® O L E ^ . . Juss. in ann. mus. 3. P - 447.
C H Y M O C A R P U S . CaZt/a; persistens, mstivatione valvata. t'etala
2. Periearpium b a c c a tum ! , , ■ -n v
H e rb a (bonariensis)scaretZeres, radiee tuberosa, perenm. Yoha. petiolata,
auinato-partita. Plores axillares, solitarii, h n g ip ed u n eu la ti. Ca lyx : tubo
erubeseenti: limbo »tVitZi. P e ta la prereicea. Bacca pulposa, atro-violaeeg.
Chvmocarpus pentaphyllus. D . Don. in linn, trans. 17. p . 14. et 145.
Tropajolum pentaphyllum. Lam. diet. l . p . 612. ill. t- 177. Willd. sp .p l.
2 V. 299. Persom syn. 1. p . 405. Sm ith in Rees Cyclop, in loco. Decand.
prodr. 1. p . 684. S t. H il.p l. usuel. bras. t. 41. Grah. in bot. mag.
t. 3190. L in d l. in bot. reg. t. 1547.
T. quinatum. Hellen. diss. de Tropaolo, p . 20. cum tabula.
A scandent herb, with numerous slender, filiform, glabrous
stems, of a purplish hue, and of a nauseous bitter
taste. Root thick, fleshy, fusiform, about the size and shape
of the Altringham carrot, of a reddish brown. Leaves alternate,
stalked, quinately parted, with oblong-elliptical,
entire, membranous, slightly mucronulate segments, an
inch in length, glaucous beneath, and rnarked with dark
purple veins, with a narrow and almost stipitate b ase; the
intermediate ones longer. Footstalks supplying the p£ce of
tendrils, filiform, glabrous, green, 2 inches in length, tre-
quentlt twisted spirally. Flowers axillary, solitary, fee-
quently resupinate, from the twisting of the peduncles.
Peduncles ascending, filiform, red, about three inches long.
Calyx persistent, increasing in size and thickness, as the
fruit advances towards maturity ; the spur funnel-shaped
of a bright orange red, its extremity clavate, filled with
a honey-like finid, and partially separated froni the rest by
a constriction, as if formed by a ligature, and finally withering
and falling off; the limb, green, marked inside with
dots and lines of a dark red colour, 5-cleft and somewhat
bilabiate, with ovate, acute, nearly equal lobes, having a
valvate estivation. Petals 2, very small, purple, spathulate,
entire, inserted in the upper lip. Stamens 8, unequal. Lila-
ments awl-shaped, dilated at the base. Anthers four-sided,
blunt, of 2 parallel connate cells, with involute valves.
Ovarium 3-celled, with solitary pendulous ovula. Style tn-
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