34 



AIZOACEAE. 



VOL. II. 



Family 21. AIZOACEAE A. Br. ; Aschers. Fl. Brand. 60. 1864. 

 CARPET- WEED FAMILY. 



Herbs, rarely somewhat woody, mostly prostrate and branching, with (in our 

 species) opposite or verticillate leaves and solitary cymose or glomerate perfect, 

 small, regular flowers. Stipules none or scarious, or the petiole-bases dilated. 

 Calyx 4~5-cleft or 4~5-parted. Petals small or none in our species. Stamens 

 perigynous, equal in number to the sepals, fewer, or more numerous. Ovary 

 usually free from the calyx, 3-5-celled, and ovules numerous in each cell in our 

 species. Fruit a capsule with loculicidal or circumscissile dehiscence. Seeds am- 

 phitropous; seed-coat crustaceous or membranous; endosperm scanty or copious; 

 embryo slender, curved. 



About 22 genera and 500 species, mostly of warm regions, a few in the temperate zones. 

 Fleshy, sea-coast herbs ; leaves opposite ; capsule circumscissile. i. Sesuvium. 



Not fleshy ; leaves verticillate ; capsule 3-valved. 2. Mollugo. 



i. SESUVIUM L. Syst. Ed. 10, 1058. 1759. 



Fleshy decumbent or prostrate herbs, with opposite leaves and solitary or clustered axil- 

 lary pink or purplish flowers. Stipules none, but the petioles often dilated and connate at the 

 base. Calyx top-shaped, 5-lobed, the lobes oblong, ovate or lanceolate. Petals none. Stamens 

 5-60, inserted on the tube of the calyx. Filaments filiform, sometimes united at the base. 

 Ovary 3-5-celled. Styles 3-5, papillose along the inner side. Capsule membranous, oblong, 

 3-5-celled, circumscissile. Seeds round-reniform, smooth; embryo annular. 



About 4 species, natives of sea-coasts and saline regions. Besides the following, another, 

 S. Portulacastrum L., the generic type, occurs in the Southern States. 



Stamens 5; coastal species. i. S. maritimum. 



Stamens numerous ; inland species. 2. S. sessile: 



A- 



i. Sesuvium maritimum (Walt.) 

 B.S.P. Sea Purslane. Fig. 1733. 



Pharnaceum maritimum Walt. Fl. Car. 117. 



1788. 

 Sesuvium pentandrum Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 



i: 556. 1821. 

 Sesuvium maritimum B.S.P. Prel. Cat. N. Y. 



20. 1888. 



Annual, glabrous, decumbent or as- 

 cending, rarely erect, branches 2 r -i2 r 

 long. Leaves obovate or spatulate, entire, 

 rounded or slightly emarginate at the 

 apex, narrowed into a petiole or the upper 

 ones sessile, 4"-i2" long; flowers sessile 

 or very nearly so, about 2" broad, mostly 

 solitary in the axils ; stamens 5, alternate 

 with the calyx-lobes ; capsule ovoid, about 

 2" high, scarcely longer than the calyx. 



Sands of the seashore, eastern Long Island 

 to Florida. Bahamas ; Cuba. July-Sept. 



2. Sesuvium sessile Pers. Western Sea Purslane. 



Fig. I734- 

 Sesuvium sessile Pers. Syn. 2: 39. 1807. 



Annual, glabrous, fleshy, usually much branched, the 

 branches erect or ascending, 4-16' long. Leaves oblanceo- 

 late to obovate, obtuse, i' long or less, narrowed into short 

 petioles ; flowers sessile or nearly so, 4"-6" wide ; calyx- 

 lobes lanceolate to ovate-oblong, acute or acuminate, short- 

 horned near the apex; stamens numerous; capsule about as 

 long as the calyx. 



On beaches, and saline plains, Kansas to Utah, Nevada, Cali- 

 fornia, Texas and northern Mexico ; also in southern Brazil. 

 March-Nov. 



Tetragonia expansa Murr., New Zealand spinach, a succu- 

 lent herb with large deltoid or rhomboid leaves and indehis- 

 cent axillary, tubercled fruit, has been found in waste grounds 

 in Connecticut. 



