TETRAGONIACEAE 411 



nate, glabrous, short-petioled : cymes many-flowered, tlie divisions copiously {)ubescent : 

 calyx yellow, that of the pistillate flowers with short ovate lobes : fruit club-shaped, 

 8-9 mm. long, slender-pedicelled, 10-ridged, with 5 rows of glands from the base to the apex. 

 In hammocks, Florida Keys. Also in the West Indies. 



2. Pisonia rotnndkta (xriseb. A shrub or small tree, with very irregular branches, 

 unarmed. Leaf-blades oval, broadly obovate or oblong, 2.5-5 cm. long, rounded or retnse 

 at the apex, glabrous, rounded or rarely cuneate at the base, short-petioled : cymes many- 

 flowered, the divisions glabrous or nearly so : calyx pinkish, that of the pistillate 

 flowers with short ovate lobes : fruit club-shaped, 6-7 mm. long, not ridged, with 5 rows 

 of glands above the middle. 



lu woods, Florida Keys. Also in the West Indies. 



3. Pisonia obtusata Sw. A shrub or small tree, with smooth and glabrous foliage, 

 more or less irregular branches, unarmed. Leaf-blades spatulate to oval, 2 4 cm. long, 

 blunt or notched at the apex, glabrous; petioles slender, relatively long (5-15 mm. i : 

 cymes rather few-flowered : calyx pale, that of the pistillate flowers with ovate or lanceolate 

 lobes : fruit oblong or elliptic, glandless, about 4-7 mm. long, 10-ribbed at the base. 



In woods, peninsular Florida and the Keys. Also in the West Indies and tropical America. 



4. Pisonia Floridana Eritton. A low shrub, with more or less gnarled branches, 

 unarmed. Leaf-blades spatulate, 2-3 cm. long, rounded at the apex, copiously pubescent, 

 slender-petioled : cymes relatively few-flowered, the divisions finely pubescent : calyx pale, 

 that of the pistillate flowers with ovate lobes : fruit narrowly urn-shaped, 6-7 mm. long, 

 somewhat constricted under the apex, delicately nerved. 



Among lime rocks, Rock Key, Florida. 



Family 8. TETRAGONIACEAE Reiclienb. Carpet-weed Family. 



Annual or perennial herbs, with a watery sap and usually succulent tissues. 

 Steins often branched at the base, the branches radiating, sometimes creeping. 

 Leaves mostly opposite or apparently whorled : blades simple. Flowers perfect, 

 polygamous or unisexual, regular. Calyx of 4-5 sepals. Corolla wanting (in 

 our genera). Androecium of 4-5 hypogynous or perigynous stamens or some- 

 times fewer or more numerous. Anthers 2-celled. Gynoecium of 2 or several 

 united carpels. Ovary 2-many-celIed or 1-celled by suppression, superior, or 

 somewhat inferior. Styles or stigmas as many as there are cavities in the ovary. 

 Ovules 1 or many. Fruit a circumscissile or loculicidal capsule, or rarely berry- 

 like or nut-like. Seeds solitary or many. Endosperm copious. Embryo curved, 

 near the surface. 



Ovary superior. 



Hypanthum wanting or nearly so : capsule loculicidal. 



Stamens 3-5 : seeds estrophiolate, with short straight funiculi. 1. Mollugo. 



Stamens 5-10: seeds strophiolate, with elongated coiled funiculi. 2. Glinus. 

 Hypanthium manifest, cylindric, turbina.te or eampainilate : capsule circumscissile. 

 Stiiiules present : ovary '2-celled or l-oelled by suppression. 



Sepals unappendaged : stamens 1-3. " 3. Cvpselea. 



Sepals appendaged : stamens 5-10. 4. Trianthkma. 



Stipules wanting : ovary 3-5-celled. 5. Sesuvium. 



Ovary partly inferior. ' 6. Tetkagonia. 



1. MOLLUGO L. 



Annual herbs, with erect stems or radially spreading branches, and glabrous or 

 pubescent foliage. Leaves basal and cauline, alternate or apparently whorled, with hya- 

 line stipules. Flowers perfect, in axillary clusters, cymes or racemes, pedicelled, usually 

 white. Sepals 5, with hyaline margins, persistent. Disk annular or wanting. Stamens 

 3, opposite the angles of the ovary, or 5 and alternate with the sepals : filaments filiform or 

 rather subulate. Ovary 3-5-celled, superior : styles 3, distinct : stigmas entire. Capsule 

 subglobose or oblong, 3-5-valved. Seeds few or numerous, estrophiolate, with short 

 straight funiculi : aril wanting or inconspicuous. Indian Chickweed. 



Blades of the stem-leaves narrowly linear : seeds finely reticulated. 1. M. Ceridana. 



Blades of the stem-leaves broadened upward : seeds 3-5-ribbed. 2. M. vertici/lata. 



1 Mollugo Cerviana (L. ) Seringe. Foliage glabrous or nearly so. Stems filiform 

 or nearly so, 5 20 cm. tall, much branched, terete: leaves glaucous, various; basal in a 

 more or less persistent whorl, spatulate ; those of the stem narrowly linear or the upper 

 ones reduced to scales : flowers in whorls on the lower part of the stem, in delicate panicles 

 above : pedicels capillary : sepals oblong to ovate, fully 1 mm. long at maturity, each 



