304 



DICHONDEACEAE. 



Family 2. DICHONDRACEAE Dumort. 

 DICHONDRA FAMILY. 



Annual or perennial herbs, with creeping stems. Leaves alternate; 

 their blades about as broad as long or broader, entire. Flowers solitary in 

 the axils, commonly stalked. Calyx of 5 distinct or nearly distinct sepals. 

 Corolla rotate or campanulate, 5-lobed, the lobes induplicate in the bud. 

 Stamens 5, shorter than the corolla. Filaments filiform or subulate. Car- 

 pels 2, distinct, pubescent. Styles 2, distinct, basal. Stigmas capitate. 

 Capsules 2 together, utricle-like, indehiscent. Seeds usually solitary or 

 two, with a short testa. Only the following genus. 



1. 



Characters of the family. 



DICHONDRA Forst. 



[Greek, two-grained, referring to the capsules.] 

 About 5 species of warm and tropical 

 regions. Type species: Dichondra 

 repens Forst. 



1. Dichondra carolinensis Michx. 

 CAROLINA DICHONDRA. (Fig. 324.) Per- 

 ennial, softly pubescent. Stems creep- 

 ing, 3' 15' long, often branching; leaves 

 reniform or suborbicular, 2'' 10" broad, 

 rounded or retuse at the apex, entire, 

 cordate; petioles much longer than the 

 blades; pedicels shorter than the peti- 

 oles; calyx silky, the sepals cuneate or 

 cuneate-obovate, obtuse; corolla green 

 ish white, 2" 3" broad; capsules about 

 1" high, utricle-like. [D. repens of Le- 

 froy, Eeade, Hemsley, Verrill, Kemp 

 and Millspaugh.] 



Common in shaded grassy places. 

 Native. Southern United States, Central 

 and South America. Flowers in spring 

 and summer. Its seed probably reached 

 Bermuda by a bird. 



Family 3. POLEMONIACEAE DC. 

 PHLOX FAMILY. 



Herbs, rarely vines. Flowers perfect, clustered, regular, or nearly so. 

 Calyx inferior, tubular or campanulate, 5-cleft, the lobes or teeth slightly 

 imbricated. Corolla gamopetalous, the limb 5-partecl, the lobes contorted. 

 Stamens 5, inserted on the tube of the corolla and alternate with its lobes ; 

 anthers versatile, 2-celled, the sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary su- 

 perior, mostly 3-celled; ovules 2- in each cavity, amphitropous; style 

 filiform; stigmas 3, linear. Capsule mostly loculicidally 3-valved. Seeds 

 sometimes winged, sometimes enveloped in mucilage and emitting spiral 

 tubes when wetted; endosperm present; embryo straight; cotyledons flat; 

 radicle inferior. About 20 genera and more than 200 species, most abun- 

 dant in western America. There are no native nor naturalized species in 

 Bermuda. 



Cobaea scandens Cav., COBAEA, South American, was grown at Mount 

 Langton prior to 1877, and flowered luxuriantly but failed to produce seed. 

 It is a very interesting glabrous vine, up to 20 long, with pinnate leaves of 2 



