two usually longer, alternate with the lateral unguiculate and the
lower or fleshy petals ; and two close together, alternate with the superior
and the lateral petals : filaments thick, distinct, or the intermediate
ones united, or (in K. lanceolata) all more or less united : anthers
innate, fleshy, somewhat conical, 2 -celled, opening at the apex
by a single or double pore. Ovary 1- (or incompletely 2-) celled,
densely hairy, gibbous : style subulate, ascending : stigma minute:
placenta posterior or next the upper p e ta l: ovules 2 , pendulous from
near the summit o f the cell. Fruit between woody and leathery, globose,
glochidate, indehiscent, 1-celled, 1-2-seeded. Seed roundish-
ovate, anatropous, with a membranous testa : albumen none; Embryo
straight: cotyledons roundish, plano-convex, fleshy.—Spreading
or procumbent under-shrubs, much branched from the base, silky or
hirsute with simple hairs : the root astringent and very bitter. Leaves
alternate, exstipulate, simple or rarely 3-foliolate, entire. Peduncles
terminal and axillary toward the summit o f the branches, sometimes
more properly racemed, 1-flowered, 2 -bracteolate in the middle.
Hooker and Arnott {hot. Beechey's voy. p. 9. t. 5. 1831), in their elaborate account
of the structure and affinities of Krameria, have corrected an important error in the
character given by St. Hilaire {mem. mus. 17. t. 31, and 19, p. 336; fy in fl. Bras,
merid.; copied also in Lindl. nat. syst. ed. 2. 1836.), who describes the three unguiculate
petals, and consequently thé sepal accompanying the smaller internal one, as
inferior or anterior: the structure according to this view being nearly the same as in
Polygalaceae. Hooker and Arnott remark that, they are borne out in their view of
the position of the parts of the flower (which supposes an inversion of the common
arrangement in Polygalacéce to take place), by Ruiz and Pavon, Jussieu, and
Kunth: and their view is fully sustained by the structure of K. lanceolata, although,
on account of the twisting of the peduncles, the petals often appear, at first sight, to
be anterior. St. Hilaire is equally mistaken in considering the side of the ovary
which is turned away from the 1 lower’ (that is, according to his view, the unguiculate)
petals as placentiferous: but the affinities suggested by Hooker and Arnott
are not borne out by the correction, unless the ovary is proved to be monocarpellary,
■which is probably not the case. The innermost sepal may either be situated on the
left of the exterior upper sepal (as in K. grandiflora figured by St. Hilaire; the
flower being brought into its true position), or more commonly on the right: in
K. lanceolata we find this sepal sometimes dextral and sometimes sinistral. 2
2. KRAMERIA. Lcefl.; R u iz § Pav. prodr. fl. Per. Chil. t. 3 ; A. S t.
Hil. 1. c. 19. p. 336 ; Hook, cf- Am. hot. Beechey's voy.. p. 8.
Character same as of the Suborder.
1. K. lanceolata (Torr.): branches mostly procumbent, many-flowered;
lower cauline leaves oblong-lanceolate or obovate-lanceolate ; the others narrowly
linear; peduncles bibracteate above the middle, longer than the leaves ;
sepals 5 nearly equal; unguiculate petals 3, the claws united their whole
length; stamens 4 ; filaments monadelphous.— Torr.! in ann. lyc. New-.
York, 2■ p. 168.
In sandy soil on the upper part of the Arkansas or the Canadian, Dr,
James! Prairies west of Fort Towson, Dr. Leavenworth! Texas,
Drummond! Tampa Bay, E. Florida, in pine woods, Dr. Burrows!
and Dr. Leavenworth! May.—Canescently hirsute. Stems numerous;
branches slender; often a foot or more long. Lower cauline leaves about §
of an inch long, and 2 lines broad, sometimes obtuse; those of the branches
usually longer. Peduncles on the prostrate branches secund, often twice the
length of the leaves, forming as it were loose leafy racemes. Sepals purple
within, ovate-lanceolate; the inner superior one mostly seated on the left.
Upper petals a little shorter than the sepals ; the claws united into a linear-
filiform column; lamin® small, roundish-obovate, distinct, equal, of a rather
firm texture: lower petals scarcely longer than the ovary, glabrous. Stamens
shorter than the upper petals: filaments sometimes monadelphous at
the base, sometimes united almost to the summit: anthers attenuate above,
the apex produced into a short somewhat dilated membranaceous tube.
Ovary densely hirsute and spinulose, imperfectly 2-celled in the youngest
state by the projection of the placental ridge. Style rigid, quadrangular, a
little declined. Immature pericarp 2-seeded; one of the seeds perhaps at
length abortive.—Apparently more nearly allied to K. linearis, Poir. (K.
pentapetala, R u iz $ Pav.), which has (according to the figure in the Flora
Peruviana) the three upper petals united throughout; the compound lamina
being merely 3-toothed. In a single flower of our species we observed the
suppression of one of the upper petals, and in another case two of them
were apparently wanting.
Or d e r X Y III. V IO LA C E iE . D C .
Sepals 5, persistent, distinct or slightly united, and often auricled
or produced at the base, imbricated in aestivation, the anterior and
two posterior being exterior, and the two lateral ones interior. P etals
5 , alternate with the sepals, hypogynous, marcescent or deciduous,
on short claws, commonly unequal, the superior one (which by the
resupination o f the flower becomes inferior) usually spurred or sac-
cate at the b a se: aestivation obliquely convnlute. Stamens 5, alternate
with the petals, inserted on the hypogynous disk or torus: an-
thers adnate, introrse, 2 -celled, opening longitudinally : filaments dilated,
elongated beyond the anthers ; two o f them generally furnished
with a spur-like appendage or gland at the base. Ovary composed o f
3 united carpels, 1-celled, with 3 parietal placentae opposite the outer
sepa ls: style usually declined, with an oblique cucullate stigma.
Capsule 1-celled, 3-vaived, loculicidal, bearing the many- (rarely few-)
seeded placentae on the middle o f the valves. Seeds anatropous,
usually with a distinctly marked chalaza, and a crustaceous testa.
Embryo straight in the axis o f fleshy albumen.—Herbs or shrubs.
Leaves simple, petioled, alternate or rarely opposite, with an involute
vernation : stipules persistent or marcescent. Flowers axillary.
1. NOISETTIA. H. B. K.nov. gen. 5. p. 382; DC.prodr. l.p . 290.
Sepals unequal, decurrent on the pedicel at the base; the 2 inferior ones
often inequilateral. Petals very unequal, persistent; the superior (or apparently
inferior) one large, somewhat unguiculate, with a long spur at the base.
Stamens distinct: filaments short: anthers sagittate, the 2 anterior ones with
a long subulate process at the base. Ovary with numerous ovules. Capsule