■ilM ;
371
MENONVILLEA filifolia.
Thread-leaved Menonvillea.
Linnean Class and Order. TETRADYNAMIA SILICULOSA.
Natural Order. CRUCIFERÆ. Trib. III. Thlaspideæ seu Phleurorhizeæ
Angustiseptæ. Decand. syst. 2. p. 372.
Calycis sépala erecta, 2 basi subsaccata. Pétala linearia, integra. Stamina
6, calyci et inter se subæqualia, libera, edentula. Silicula brevissiiiiè stipitata,
stylo sulcato et stigmate subcapitato terminata, bilocularis, loculis dorso
convexis, margine in alam expansis et quasi discos 2 parallelos conficientibus,
1 -spermis. Semina ovata, compressa, immarginata. Embryonis radícula
adscendeiis, cotyledones accumbentes. Decand. l. c. 2. p. 372.
Herbæ (chilenses) annua;, fo liis angustis,floribus terminalibus racemosis albis,
pedicellis ebracteatis.
1A.filifolia, annua; foliis filiformibus indivisis lacinlatisve, siliculasloculis tuberculatis
callo oblongo depresso notatis ala crenulata cinctis. Fisch, et Mey.
ind. sem. hort. imper. petrop. 1835,y). 34.
Root fibrous, annual. Stem erect, cylindrical, rigid, but
little branched, about a foot high. Leaves very narrow,
linear, obtuse, entire or slightly pinnatifid, fleshy, fiat above,
convex beneath, glabrous and shining, grass green,_ recurved
and spreading, 3 or 5 inches long. Racemes terminal, solitary,
spiciform, from 3 to 5 inches long. Flowers rather
distant, erect. Pedicels very short, filiform, about 2 lines
long. greenish white; sepals connivent, linear, obtuse,
concave, gibbous at the base ; the two right and left larger,
and more prominent at the base ; edges thin and membranous.
Petals milk-white, double the length of the calyx ;
claws narrow, erect, connivent, attenuated towards the base,
longer than the sepals; lamina linear-spathulate, obtuse,
entire, half the length of the claws. Stamens 6 ; two lateral
ones rather shorter, and placed singly ; four others by pairs.
Filaments slender,awl-shaped,glabrous,white. Antherslme&y,
yellow, the cells parallel, introrse, free at the base. Disk