uplifted valves. Pod opening by a lid.
5. Podophyllum. Petals 6--9. Stamens 12--18; anthers not opening by
uplifted valves. Fruit a large berry.
1. BERBERIS, L. BARBERRY.
Sepals 6, roundish, with 2--6 bractlets outside. Petals 6, obovate,
concave, with two glandular spots inside above the short claw. Stamens
6. Stigma circular, depressed. Fruit a 1--few-seeded berry. Seeds erect,
with a crustaceous integument.--Shrubs, with yellow wood and inner bark,
yellow flowers in drooping racemes, sour berries, and 1--9-foliolate
leaves. Stamens irritable. (Derived from _Berberys_, the Arabic name of
the fruit.)
1. B. Canadensis, Pursh. (AMERICAN BARBERRY.) Leaves repandly toothed,
the teeth less bristly-pointed; _racemes few-flowered_; petals notched
at the apex; _berries oval_; otherwise as in the next.--Alleghanies of
Va. and southward; _not_ in Canada. June.--Shrub 1--3 deg. high.
B. VULGARIS, L. (COMMON BARBERRY.) Leaves scattered on the fresh shoots
of the season, mostly reduced to sharp triple or branched spines, from
the axils of which the next season proceed rosettes or fascicles of
obovate-oblong closely bristly-toothed leaves (the short petiole
jointed!), and drooping _many-flowered racemes_; petals entire; _berries
oblong_, scarlet.--Thickets and waste grounds in E. New Eng., where it
has become thoroughly wild; elsewhere occasionally spontaneous. May,
June. (Nat. from Eu.)
2. CAULOPHYLLUM, Michx. BLUE COHOSH.
Sepals 6, with 3 or 4 small bractlets at the base, ovate-oblong. Petals
6 thick and gland-like somewhat kidney-shaped or hooded bodies, with
short claws, much smaller than the sepals, one at the base of each of
them. Stamens 6; anthers oblong. Pistil gibbous; style short; stigma
minute and unilateral; ovary bursting soon after flowering by the
pressure of the 2 erect, enlarging seeds, and withering away; the
spherical seeds naked on their thick seed-stalks, looking like drupes,
the fleshy integument turning blue; albumen horny.--A perennial glabrous
herb, with matted knotty rootstocks, sending up in early spring a simple
and naked stem, terminated by a small raceme or panicle of
yellowish-green flowers, and a little below bearing a large triternately
compound sessile leaf (whence the name, from [Greek: kaulo/s], _stem_,
and [Greek: phy/llon], _leaf_, the stem seeming to form a stalk for the
great leaf.)
1. C. thalictroides, Michx. (Also called PAPPOOSE-ROOT.) Stems 1--21/2 deg.
high; leaflets obovate wedge-form, 2--3-lobed, a smaller biternate leaf
often at the base of the panicle; flowers appearing while the leaf is
yet small.--Deep rich woods; common westward. April, May.--Whole plant
glaucous when young, as also the seeds, which are as large as peas.
3. DIPHYLLEIA, Michx. UMBRELLA-LEAF.
Sepals 6, fugacious. Petals 6, oval, flat, larger than the sepals.
Stamens 6; anthers oblong. Ovary oblong; style hardly any; stigma
depressed. Ovules 5 or 6, attached to one side of the cell below the
middle. Berry globose, few-seeded. Seeds oblong, with no aril.--A
perennial glabrous herb, with thick horizontal rootstocks, sending up
each year either a huge centrally peltate and cut-lobed, rounded,
umbrella-like radical leaf, on a stout stalk, or a flowering stem
bearing two similar (but smaller and more 2-cleft) alternate leaves
which are peltate near one margin, and terminated by a cyme of white
flowers. (Name composed of [Greek: di/s], _double_, and [Greek:
phy/llon], _leaf_.)
1. D. cymosa, Michx. Root-leaves 1--2 deg. in diameter, 2-cleft, each
division 5--7-lobed; lobes toothed; berries blue.--Wet or springy
places, mountains of Va. and southward. May.
4. JEFFERSONIA, Barton. TWIN-LEAF.
Sepals 4, fugacious. Petals 8, oblong, flat. Stamens 8, anthers
oblong-linear, on slender filaments. Ovary ovoid, soon gibbous, pointed,
stigma 2-lobed. Pod pear-shaped, opening half-way round horizontally,
the upper part making a lid. Seeds many in several rows on the lateral
placenta, with a fleshy lacerate aril on one side.--A perennial glabrous
herb, with matted fibrous roots, long-petioled root-leaves, parted into
2 half-ovate leaflets, and simple naked 1-flowered scapes. (Named in
honor of _Thomas Jefferson_.)
1. J. diphylla, Pers. Low; flower white, 1' broad, the parts rarely in
threes or fives.--Woods, western N. Y. to Wisc. and southward. April,
May.--Called _Rheumatism-root_ in some places.
5. PODOPHYLLUM, L. MAY-APPLE. MANDRAKE.
Flower-bud with three green bractlets, which early fall away. Sepals 6,
fugacious. Petals 6 or 9, obovate. Stamens twice as many as the petals
in our species; anthers linear-oblong, not opening by uplifted valves.
Ovary ovoid; stigma sessile, large, thick and undulate. Fruit a large
fleshy berry. Seeds covering the very large lateral placenta, in many
rows, each seed enclosed in a pulpy aril, all forming a mass which fills
the cavity of the fruit.--Perennial herbs, with creeping rootstocks and
thick fibrous roots. Stems 2-leaved, 1-flowered. (Name from [Greek:
pou s], _a foot_, and [Greek: phy/llon], _a leaf_, probably referring to
the stout petioles.)
1. P. peltatum, L. Stamens 12--18; leaves 5--9-parted, the lobes oblong,
rather wedge-shaped, somewhat lobed and toothed at the apex.--Rich
woods, common. May.--Flowerless stems terminated by a large round
7--9-lobed leaf, peltate in the middle like an umbrella. Flowering stems
bearing two one-sided leaves, with the stalk fixed near their inner
edge; the nodding white flower from the fork nearly 2' broad. Fruit
ovoid, 1--2' long, ripe in July, sweet and slightly acid, edible. The
leaves and roots are drastic and poisonous!--Found occasionally with
from 2 to 6 carpels!
ORDER 6. NYMPHAEACEAE. (WATER-LILY FAMILY.)
_Aquatic perennial herbs, with horizontal rootstocks and peltate or
sometimes only cordate leaves floating or emersed; the ovules borne on
the sides or back (or when solitary hanging from the summit) of the
cells, not on the ventral suture; the embryo enclosed in a little bag_
at the end of the albumen next the hilum, except in Nelumbium, which has
no albumen. Radicle hardly any; cotyledons thick and fleshy, enclosing a
well-developed plumule.--Flowers axillary, solitary. Vernation involute.
Rootstocks apparently endogenous.--The few genera differ so much in the
flower and fruit that they are separated into the three following
suborders.
SUBORDER I. Cabombeae. Sepals and petals each 3 or sometimes 4,
hypogynous and persistent. Stamens definite (3--18). Pistils 2--18, free
and distinct, coriaceous and indehiscent, 1--3-seeded on the dorsal
suture.--Stems slender, leafy, coated with mucilage. Flowers small.
1. Cabomba. Stamens 3--4. Carpels 2--3. Submersed leaves
capillary-multifid.
2. Brasenia. Stamens 12--18. Carpels 4--18. Leaves all peltate.
SUBORDER II. Nelumboneae. Sepals and petals numerous in several rows,
passing gradually into each other, and with the indefinitely numerous
stamens hypogynous and deciduous. Pistils several, 1-ovuled, separately
immersed in the obconical receptacle, which is much enlarged and broadly
top-shaped at maturity, the imbedded nut-like fruits resembling small
acorns. Embryo large; no albumen.--Petioles and peduncles all from the
tuberous rootstock, the centrally peltate leaves and the flowers large.
3. Nelumbo. Character of the Suborder.
SUBORDER III. Nymphaeaceae proper. Sepals 4--6, and petals numerous in
many rows, persistent or decaying away, either hypogynous or variously
adnate to the surface of the compound 8--30-celled ovary, which is
formed by the union of as many carpels; the numerous ovules inserted
over the whole inner face of the cells, except at the ventral suture.
Stigmas radiate as in Poppy. Fruit baccate, with a firm rind. Petioles
and peduncles from a thick rootstock.
4. Nymphaea. Petals adnate to the ovary, large; the stamens on its
summit.
5. Nuphar. Petals (very small and stamen-like) and stamens inserted
under the ovary.
1. CABOMBA, Aublet.
Sepals 3. Petals 3, oval, bi-auriculate above the very short claw.
Stamens 3--6; anthers short, extrorse. Pistils 2--4, with small terminal
stigmas. Seeds 3, pendulous.--Slender, mainly submersed, with opposite
or verticillate capillary-dissected leaves, a few floating, alternate
and centrally peltate. Flowers single on long axillary peduncles.
(Probably an aboriginal name.)
1. C. Caroliniana, Gray. Floating leaves linear-oblong or -obovate,
often with a basal notch; flowers 6--8'' broad, white with yellow spots
at base; stamens 6.--Ponds, S. Ill. (May--Sept., _Schneck_) to Fla. and
Tex.
2. BRASENIA, Schreber. WATER-SHIELD.
Sepals 3 or 4. Petals 3 or 4, linear, sessile. Stamens 12--18; filaments
filiform; anthers innate. Pistils 4--18, forming little club-shaped
indehiscent pods; stigmas linear. Seeds 1--2, pendulous on the dorsal
suture!--Rootstock creeping. Leaves alternate, long-petioled, centrally
peltate, oval, floating. Flowers axillary, small, dull-purple. (Name of
uncertain origin.)
1. B. peltata, Pursh. Leaves entire, 1--4' across.--Ponds and slow
streams. June--Aug. (Asia, Africa and Australia.)
3. NELUMBO, Tourn. SACRED BEAN.
The only genus of the suborder. (_Nelumbo_ is the Ceylonese name of the
East Indian species, the pink-flowered N. speciosum.)
1. N. lutea, Pers. (YELLOW NELUMBO, or WATER CHINQUAPIN.) Leaves usually
raised high out of the water, circular, with the centre depressed or
cupped, 1--2 deg. in diameter; flower pale yellow, 5--10' broad; anthers
tipped with a slender hooked appendage. (Nelumbium luteum, _Willd._)--S.
Conn. (probably of Indian introduction) to Lake Ontario, Mich., Minn.,
E. Neb., and southward; rare in the Middle States.--Tubers farinaceous
and edible. Seeds also eatable. Embryo like that of Nymphaea on a large
scale; cotyledons thick and fleshy, enclosing a plumule of 1 or 2
well-formed young leaves, enclosed in a delicate stipule-like sheath.
4. NYMPHAEA, Tourn. WATER-NYMPH. WATER-LILY.
Sepals 4, green outside, nearly free. Petals numerous, in many rows, the
innermost gradually passing into stamens, imbricately inserted all over
the ovary. Stamens indefinite, inserted on the ovary, the outer with
dilated filaments. Ovary 12--35-celled, the concave summit tipped with
a globular projection at the centre, around which are the radiate
stigmas; these project at the margin, and are extended into linear and
incurved sterile appendages. Fruit depressed-globular, covered with the
bases of the decayed petals, maturing under water. Seeds enveloped by a
sac-like aril.--Flowers white, pink, yellow, or blue, very showy.
(Dedicated by the Greeks to the Water-Nymphs.)
1. N. odorata, Ait. (SWEET-SCENTED WATER-LILY.) _Rootstock with few and
persistent branches_; leaves orbicular, cordate-cleft at the base to the
petiole (5--9' wide), the margin entire; stipules broadly triangular or
almost kidney-shaped, notched at the apex, appressed to the rootstock;
_flower_ white, _very sweet scented_ (often as much as 51/2' in diameter
when fully expanded, opening early in the morning, closing in the
afternoon); petals obtuse; anthers blunt; aril much longer than the
distinctly stipitate _oblong seeds_ (these about 11/2'' long).--Ponds and
still or slow-flowing water; common. June--Sept.--Varies with
pinkish-tinged and rarely with bright pink-red flowers (especially at
Barnstable, Mass.), the leaves often crimson underneath,--and in size by
gradations into
Var. minor, Sims., with leaves only 2--5' and flowers 2--3'
broad.--Shallow water, in cold bogs and in sandy soil.
2. N. reniformis, DC. (TUBER-BEARING W.) Leaves reniform-orbicular,
mostly larger (8--15' wide) and more prominently ribbed than the last,
rarely purplish beneath; _rootstock bearing numerous spontaneously
detaching often compound tubers; flower scentless_ (or with a slight
odor as of apples), white, never pinkish, 41/2--9' in diameter, the petals
proportionally broader and blunter than in n. 1; the fruit more
depressed, and with fewer but much larger (i.e. twice as broad)
_globular-ovoid seeds_, which when mature are barely enclosed by the
aril and not stipitate. (N. tuberosa, _Paine_.)--Lakes, slow rivers,
etc., western N. Y. (from Oneida Lake, _Paine_) and near Meadville,
Penn., to Mich., E. Neb., and probably in the Southern States.
July--Sept.
5. NUPHAR, Smith. YELLOW POND-LILY. SPATTER-DOCK.
Sepals 5, 6, or sometimes more, colored, or partly green outside,
roundish, concave. Petals numerous, small and thickish, stamen-like or
scale-like, inserted with the very numerous short stamens on the
receptacle under the ovary, not surpassing the disk-like 8--24-rayed
sessile stigma, persistent and at length recurved. Fruit ovoid, naked,
usually ripening above water. Aril none.--Rootstock creeping,
cylindrical. Leaves with a deep sinus at the base. Flowers yellow or
sometimes tinged with purple, produced all summer. (Name said to be of
Arabic origin.)
1. N. advena, Ait. f. _Sepals 6, unequal; petals shorter than the
stamens_ and resembling them, thick and fleshy, truncate; stigma nearly
entire, 12--24-rayed, pale red; ovary and fruit (11/2' long) ovate, not
contracted above into a narrow neck; thin submersed leaves seldom
present; floating or emersed and erect leaves thick (6--12' long), from
roundish to ovate or almost oblong, the sinus open, or closed or
narrow.--Very common, in still or stagnant water; stout and coarse;
flower often partly purplish (var. VARIEGATUM, Engelm.).
Var. minus, Morong. More slender; leaves somewhat smaller (3--8' long);
flowers usually smaller (sepals 12--15'' long); petals spatulate;
stigmas 9--13-rayed, crenately toothed, bright red or crimson; fruit 1'
long, contracted above. (N. rubrodiscum, _Morong._ N. luteum, _Man._;
not _Smith_.)--N. Vt. to Mich. and Penn. Probably a hybrid between this
and the next species.
2. N. Kalmianum, Ait. Very slender and with slender rootstock; submersed
leaves thin, round-reniform, the floating broadly elliptical with a deep
narrow sinus, 2--4' long; sepals usually 5, the flowers an inch broad or
less; petals spatulate or obovate; stigmas 7--10-rayed, dark red; fruit
globular with a short neck (6--9'' in diameter). (N. luteum, var.
pumilum, _Man._)--Maine to Penn. and Minn., and northward.
3. N. sagittifolium, Pursh. Rootstock stout; leaves narrowly oblong to
oblong-lanceolate with a short sinus, 6--15' long; flowers small (1'
broad).--S. Ind. and Ill. (_Schneck_), and southward.
ORDER 7. SARRACENIACEAE. (PITCHER-PLANTS.)
_Polyandrous and hypogynous bog-plants, with hollow pitcher-form or
trumpet-shaped leaves_,--comprising one plant in the mountains of
Guiana, another (Darlingtonia, _Torr._) in California, and the following
genus in the Atlantic United States.
1. SARRACENIA, Tourn. SIDE-SADDLE FLOWER.
Sepals 5, with 3 bractlets at the base, colored, persistent. Petals 5,
oblong or obovate, incurved, deciduous. Stamens numerous, hypogynous.
Ovary compound, 5-celled, globose, crowned with a short style, which is
expanded at the summit into a very broad and petal-like, 5-angled,
5-rayed, umbrella-shaped body, the 5 delicate rays terminating under the
angles in as many little hooked stigmas. Capsule with a granular
surface, 5-celled, with many-seeded placentae in the axis, loculicidally
5-valved. Seeds anatropous, with a small embryo at the base of fleshy
albumen.--Perennials, yellowish-green and purplish; the hollow leaves
all radical, with a wing on one side, and a rounded arching hood at the
apex. Scape naked, 1-flowered; flower nodding. (Named by Tournefort in
honor of _Dr. Sarrasin_ of Quebec, who first sent our Northern species,
and a botanical account of it, to Europe.)
1. S. purpurea, L. (SIDE-SADDLE FLOWER. PITCHER-PLANT. HUNTSMAN'S CUP.)
_Leaves pitcher-shaped_, ascending, curved, broadly winged; the hood
erect, open, round heart-shaped; _flower deep purple_; the fiddle-shaped
petals arched over the greenish-yellow style.--Varies rarely with
greenish-yellow flowers, and without purple veins in the
foliage.--Peat-bogs; common from N. Eng. to Minn., N. E. Iowa, and
southward east of the Alleghanies. June.--The curious leaves are
usually half filled with water and drowned insects. The inner face of
the hood is clothed with stiff bristles pointing downward. Flower
globose, nodding on a scape a foot high; it is difficult to fancy any
resemblance between its shape and a side-saddle, but it is not very
unlike a pillion.
2. S. flava, L. (TRUMPETS.) _Leaves long (1--3 deg.) and trumpet-shaped_,
erect, with an open mouth, the erect hood rounded, narrow at the base;
wing almost none; _flower yellow_, the petals becoming long and
drooping.--Bogs, Va. and southward. April.
ORDER 8. PAPAVERACEAE. (POPPY FAMILY.)
_Herbs with milky or colored juice, regular flowers with the parts in
twos or fours, fugacious sepals, polyandrous, hypogynous, the ovary
1-celled with two or more parietal placentae._--Sepals 2, rarely 3,
falling when the flower expands. Petals 4--12, spreading, imbricated and
often crumpled in the bud, early deciduous. Stamens rarely as few as 16,
distinct. Fruit a dry 1-celled pod (in the Poppy imperfectly
many-celled, in Glaucium 2-celled). Seeds numerous, anatropous, often
crested, with a minute embryo at the base of fleshy and oily
albumen.--Leaves alternate, without stipules. Peduncles mostly
1-flowered. Juice narcotic or acrid.
[*] Petals 8--12, not crumpled in the bud, white. Pod 1-celled,
2-valved.
1. Sanguinaria. Petals white. Leaves and 1-flowered scape from a short
rootstock.
[*][*] Petals 4, crumpled in the bud. Pod 2-valved or more.
[+] Pod 2--4-valved, the valves separating to the base from the
placentas. Leaves pinnately parted. Flowers yellow.
2. Stylophorum. Pod bristly; style distinct; stigmas and placentas 3--4.
3. Chelidonium. Pod linear, smooth; style almost none; stigmas and
placentas 2.
4. Glaucium. Pod rough, long-linear, 2-celled by a spongy partition;
style none.
[+][+] Pod 4--20-valved, dehiscent only at the top or to the middle.
5. Papaver. Ovary incompletely many-celled; stigmas united into a
radiate sessile crown.
6. Argemone. Stigmas (sessile) and placentas 4--6. Pod and leaves
prickly.
1. SANGUINARIA, Dill. BLOOD-ROOT.
Sepals 2. Petals 8--12, spatulate-oblong, the inner narrower. Stamens
about 24. Style short; stigma 2-grooved. Pod oblong, turgid, 1-celled,
2-valved. Seeds with a large crest.--A low perennial, with thick
prostrate premorse rootstocks, surcharged with red-orange acrid juice,
sending up in earliest spring a rounded palmate-lobed leaf, and a
1-flowered naked scape. Flower white, handsome, the bud erect, the
petals not crumpled. (Name from the color of the juice.)
1. S. Canadensis, L.--Open rich woods; common. April, May.
2. STYLOPHORUM, Nutt. CELANDINE POPPY.
Sepals 2, hairy. Petals 4. Style distinct, columnar; stigma 2--4-lobed.
Pods bristly, 2--4-valved to the base. Seeds conspicuously
crested.--Perennial low herbs, with stems naked below and oppositely
2-leaved, or sometimes 1--3-leaved, and umbellately 1--few-flowered at
the summit; the flower-buds and the pods nodding. Leaves pinnately
parted or divided. Juice yellow. (From [Greek: sty/los], _style_, and
[Greek: phe/ro], _to bear_, one of the distinctive characters.)
1. S. diphyllum, Nutt. Leaves pale or glaucous beneath, smoothish,
deeply pinnatifid into 5 or 7 oblong sinuate-lobed divisions, and the
root-leaves often with a pair of smaller and distinct leaflets;
peduncles equalling the petioles; flower deep yellow (2' broad); stigmas
3 or 4; pod oval.--Damp woods, W. Penn. to Wisc. and Tenn. May.--Foliage
and flower resembling Celandine.
3. CHELIDONIUM, L. CELANDINE.
Sepals 2. Petals 4. Stamens 16--24. Style nearly none; stigma 2-lobed.
Pod linear, slender, smooth, 2-valved, the valves opening from the
bottom upward. Seeds crested.--Biennial herb with brittle stems,
saffron-colored acrid juice, pinnately divided or 2-pinnatifid and
toothed or cut leaves, and small yellow flowers in a pedunculate umbel;
buds nodding. (Ancient Greek name from [Greek: chelido/n], the
_swallow_, because its flowers appear with the swallows.)
C. MAJUS, L. (CELANDINE.) Waste grounds near dwellings. May--Aug. (Adv.
from Eu.)
4. GLAUCIUM, Tourn. HORN-POPPY.
Sepals 2. Petals 4. Style none; stigma 2-lobed or 2-horned. Pod very
long and linear, completely 2-celled by a spongy false partition; seeds
crestless.--Annuals or biennials, with saffron-colored juice, clasping
leaves, and solitary yellow flowers. (The Greek name, [Greek:
glau/kion], from the glaucous foliage.)
G. LUTEUM, Scop. Lower leaves pinnatifid; upper ones sinuate-lobed and
toothed, cordate-clasping; pods rough (6--10' long).--Waste places S. E.
New Eng., Md., and Va.; not common. (Adv. from Eu.)
5. PAPAVER, Tourn. POPPY.
Sepals mostly 2. Petals mostly 4. Stigmas united in a flat 4--20-rayed
crown, resting on the summit of the ovary and capsule; the latter short
and turgid, with 4--20 many-seeded placentae projecting like imperfect
partitions, opening by as many pores or chinks under the edge of the
stigma.--Herbs with a white juice; the flower-buds nodding. (Derivation
obscure.)--Three annual species of the Old World are sparingly
adventive; viz.:
P. SOMNIFERUM, L. (COMMON POPPY.) _Smooth_, glaucous; leaves clasping,
wavy, incised and toothed; _pod globose_; corolla mostly white or
purple.--Near dwellings in some places. (Adv. from Eu.)
P. DUBIUM, L. (SMOOTH-FRUITED CORN-POPPY.) Pinnatifid leaves and the
long stalks _bristly; pods club-shaped, smooth_; corolla light
scarlet.--Cult. grounds, Westchester, Penn., and southward; rare. (Adv.
from Eu.)
P. ARGEMONE, L. (ROUGH-FRUITED C.) Smaller, with finer-cut leaves and
paler flowers than the last; _pods club-shaped and bristly_.--Waste
grounds, near Philadelphia. (Adv. from Eu.)
6. ARGEMONE, L. PRICKLY POPPY.
Sepals 2 or 3, often prickly. Petals 4--6. Style almost none; stigmas
3--6, radiate. Pod oblong, prickly, opening by 3--6 valves at the top.
Seeds crested.--Annuals or biennials, with prickly bristles and yellow
juice. Leaves sessile, sinuate-lobed, and with prickly teeth, often
blotched with white. Flower-buds erect, short-peduncled. (Name from
[Greek: a)/rgema], a disease of the eye, for which the juice of a plant
so called by the Greeks was a supposed remedy.)
1. A. platyceras, Link & Otto. Setose-hispid all over; petals white,
11/2--2' long; capsule armed with stout spines.--Central Kan. and Neb.,
south and westward.
A. MEXICANA, L. (MEXICAN P.) Flowers yellow, rarely white.--Waste
places, southward. July--Oct. (Adv. from trop. Amer.)
(Addendum)--ARGEMONE MEXICANA. Collected at Merodosia, Ill., with white
flowers, by _A. B. Seymour_.
ORDER 9. FUMARIACEAE. (FUMITORY FAMILY.)
_Delicate smooth herbs, with watery juice, compound dissected leaves,
irregular flowers, with 4 somewhat united petals, 6 diadelphous stamens,
and 2-merous pods and seeds like those of the_ Poppy Family.--Sepals 2,
small and scale-like. Corolla flattened, closed; the 4 petals in two
pairs; the outer with spreading tips, and one or both of them spurred or
saccate at the base; inner pair narrower, and their callous crested tips
united over the stigma. Stamens in two sets of 3 each, placed opposite
the larger petals, hypogynous; their filaments often united; middle
anther of each set 2-celled, the lateral ones 1-celled. Pod 1-celled,
either 1-seeded and indehiscent, or several-seeded with 2 parietal
placentae and deciduous valves.--Leaves delicate, usually alternate,
without stipules. Slightly bitter, innocent plants.