DODECANDRIA, (from δωδεκα, deceve, and αρχη, a man); the name of the eleventh class in Linnaeus's sexual system, consisting of plants with hermaphrodite flowers, that according to the title, have twelve stamens or male organs. This class however, is not limited with respect to the number of stamens. Many genera have sixteen, eighteen, and even nineteen stamens; the essential character seems to be, that, in the class in question, the stamens, however numerous, are inserted into the receptacle; whereas in the next class, icofandria, which is as little determined in point of number as the present, they are attached to the inside of the calyx or flower-cup.
The orders in this class, which are six, are founded upon the number of the styles, or female organs. Afarabacca, mangostan, florax, purple loofelife, wild Syrian rue, and purslain, have only one style; agrimony and heliocarpus have two; burning thorny plant, and bastard rocket, three; glinus, five; illicium, eight; and house leek, twelve.