126 



AIZOACEAE. 



1. Tetragonia expansa Murr. 



NEW -ZEALAND SPINACH. (Fig. 145.) 

 Stems prostrate or ascending, rather 

 stout, often 2 long, branched below. 

 Leaves rhombic-ovate, l'-3' long, 

 acutish to acuminate at the apex, ab- 

 ruptly narrowed into a petiole shorter 

 than the blade; flowers solitary and 

 nearly sessile in the axils, about 2J" 

 wide; fruit short-stalked, broadly 

 obovoid, 4-horned, 4" 5" thick. 



Border of mangrove swamp, near 

 Bassett's Cave, Sandys, 1912. Escaped 

 from cultivation and naturalized. Na- 

 tive of New Zealand. 



Mesembryanthemum crystallinum 

 L., ICE PLANT, of Greece, the Canary 

 Islands, South Africa, and found also 

 on the coast of California, has been 

 planted for interest. It is a diffusely 

 procumbent herb, covered with white 

 shining papillae, its ovate to spatulate 



leaves l'-4' long, its small, nearly sessile, axillary flowers white or rose. [M. 



glaciale Haw.] 



A species of Mesembryanthemum, South African, known as HOTTENTOT 's 

 BREAD, was grown at Wood Haven in 1914. 



Family 7. PORTULACACEAE Reichenb. 

 PURSLANE FAMILY. 



Herbs, rarely somewhat woody, with regular perfect but unsymmet- 

 rical flowers. Sepals commonly 2 (rarely 5). Petals 4 or 5, rarely more, 

 hypogynous, imbricated. Stamens hypogynous, equal in number to the 

 petals or fewer, rarely more; filaments filiform; anthers 2-celled, longi- 

 tudinally dehiscent. Ovary 1-celled; style 2-3-cleft or 2-3-divided, the 

 divisions stigmatic on the inner side; ovules 2-, amphitropous. Capsule 

 circurnseissile, or dehiscent by 3 valves. Seeds 2 , reniform-globose or 

 compressed; embryo curved. About 180 species, mostly natives of Amer- 

 ica, grouped in about 20 genera. 



1. PORTULACA L. 



Diffuse or ascending, glabrous or pubescent fleshy herbs, with terminal 

 flowers. Sepals 2, united at the base and partly adnate to the ovary. Petals 

 46 (mainly 5), inserted on the calyx, fugacious. Stamens 7-oo, also on the 

 calyx. Ovary many-ovuled ; style deeply 3-9-cleft or parted. Capsule mem- 

 branous, dehiscent by a lid, many-seeded. [Latin, in allusion to the purging 

 qualities of some species.] A genus of about 20 species, all but 2 or 3 natives 

 of America, the following typical. 



