2. N. G. Nemopanthus.
Dioical. M. flowers calyx 5 phylle, equal, deciduous. No corolla. Stamina 5 hypogynous, alternating with the calyx. Fem. fl. calyx deciduous 5 phylle? Ovary ovate, stigma sessile 4 lobed. Berry 4 celled 4 seeded.
The name means flower with a filiform peduncle. A shrub forms this genus, which had perhaps been united with ilex by Michaux, &c.; but it differs altogether from it by the want of corolla, hypogynous stamens, sessile, style, &c. it does not even belong to the same family, but to the natural family Rhamnidia, natural order Plynontia, and natural class Eltrogynia, next to the genus frangula. In the sexual system it would belong to Dioecia pentandria, very far apart from Frangula.
Nemopanthus fascicularis. Fascicled nemopanthus. Shrubby, leaves fasciculated, petiolate, oblong, mucronate, entire, rather undulated, membranaceous, smooth; flowers axillary fasciculated, peduncles filiform, shorter than the leaves.
It forms a small shrub from 5 to 8 feet high, covered with gray bark, and with slender upright branches; the flowers are greenish, very small, the female flowers have shorter and thicker peduncles; they blossom in June. It grows on the Catskill mountains near the two lakes. It is, perhaps, the Ilex canadensis? of Michaux and Pursh. And it has some analogy with the Frangula alnifolia.
3. N. G. Polanisia.
Calyx 4 phylle, phylles coloured unequal, the upper one unguiculated spatulated. Corolla with 4 unequal petals, the two upper ones larger and unguiculated. A nectarium upwards glandular, broad, and truncated. Stamina 9 to 14, unequal, erect, hypogynous. Ovary oblong on a short pedicel, one style, one truncated stigma. Fruit a follicular capsule, one celled, two valved, many seeded, seeds inserted on each side of each suture, nearly snail-shaped.
The type of this genus is the Cleome dodecandra of Linnæus, under which denomination many species were blended, which have no similitude with the real genus cleome, differing in the calyx, corolla, nectarium, stamina, and fruit. I shall describe here that of North America, where 2 or 3 species exist, besides those of the West Indies, Africa, and Asia, which are totally different. The etymology of the name which I have given to it, derives from many irregularities. It belongs in the analytical method of botany, to the first natural class Eltrogynia, ninth natural order Monostimia, natural family Capparidia. It can find no place in the sexual system since the number of stamina varies from 9 to 14, unless it be forced into Dodecandria.
Polanisia graveolens. Clammy polanisia—hairy and glutinous all over, stem upright, leaves alternate, petiolate, ternated, folioles sessile, the intermediate longest, oblong, obtuse, entire, hairy on the margin and nerves: flowers racemose erect, bracteas petiolate, ovate, obtuse, calyx hairy, petals emarginate, crenate, capsules divaricate glutinous.
It is the Cleome dodecandra of Michaux and Pursh. It grows on the banks of rivers and lakes, on the Hudson near Newburgh, on the Susquehannah near Harrisburg, on Lake Erie, on the Ohio, and Mississippi, &c. It blossoms in July and August, the stem rises about 1 foot, the petals are white, or slightly red. The whole plant has a strong graveolent smell, similar to that of Erigeron graveolens. (Received January, 1818. Editor.)