[*][*] Herbs; stigma single, entire or 2-lobed.
2. Polypremum. Corolla 4-lobed, not longer than the calyx, imbricated in the bud.
3. Spigelia. Corolla 5-lobed, valvate in the bud. Style single, jointed in the middle.
4. Mitreola. Corolla 5-lobed, valvate in the bud. Styles 2, short, converging, united at the summit, and with a common stigma.
1. GELSÉMIUM, Juss. Yellow (False) Jessamine.
Calyx 5-parted. Corolla open-funnel-form, 5-lobed; the lobes imbricated in the bud. Stamens 5, with oblong sagittate anthers. Style long and slender; stigmas 2, each 2-parted, the divisions linear. Capsule elliptical, flattened contrary to the narrow partition, 2-celled, septicidally 2-valved. Seeds many or several, winged. Embryo straight, in fleshy albumen; the ovate flat cotyledons much shorter than the slender radicle.—Smooth and twining shrubby plants with ovate or lanceolate leaves, minute deciduous stipules, and showy yellow flowers, of two sorts as to relative length of stamens and style. (Gelsomino, the Italian name of the Jessamine.)
1. G. sempérvirens, Ait. (Yellow Jessamine of the South.) Stem climbing high; leaves short-petioled, shining, nearly persistent; flowers in short axillary clusters; pedicels scaly-bracted; flowers very fragrant (the bright yellow corolla 1–1½´ long); capsule flat, pointed.—Low grounds, E. Va. to Fla. and Tex. March, April.
2. POLYPRÈMUM, L.
Calyx 4-parted; the divisions awl-shaped from a broad scarious-margined base. Corolla not longer than the calyx, almost wheel-shaped, bearded in the throat; the 4 lobes imbricated in the bud. Stamens 4, very short; anthers globular. Style 1, very short; stigma ovoid, entire. Capsule ovoid, a little flattened, notched at the apex, 2-celled, loculicidally 2-valved, many-seeded.—A smooth, diffuse, much-branched, small annual, with narrowly linear or awl-shaped leaves, connected at base by a slight stipular line; the small flowers solitary and sessile in the forks and at the ends of the branches; corolla inconspicuous, white. (Name altered from πολύπρεμνος, many-stemmed.)
1. P. procúmbens, L.—Dry fields, mostly in sandy soil, Md. to Tex.; also adventive in Penn. June–Oct.