92 PORTULACACEAE. 



Mollugo verticillata L. Carpet Weed. Annual, glabrous throughout, 

 prostrate; stem slender, 10-30 cm. long, branched; leaves spatulate or ob- 

 lanceolate, acute or obtuse, entire, narrowed at the sessile base, 1-2 cm. long, 

 3-8 in a whorl; flowers small, solitary in the axils, on pedicels as long or longer; 

 sepals oblong, shorter than the ovoid capsules; seeds shining, brown, curved. 

 Common on the sandy banks of streams. 



Family 35. PORTULACACEAE. PURSLANE FAMILY. 



Annual or perennial usually succulent herbs; leaves entire, 

 alternate or opposite; flowers regular, perfect; sepals 2 or 4-8; 

 petals 4 or 5, hypogynous, early withering; stamens as many as 

 or more numerous than the petals and adherent to their bases; 

 ovary 1-celled; ovules few to many; endosperm mealy. 



Ovary half inferior; sepals partly united. 124. PORTULACA, 92. 



Ovary superior. 



Capsule circumscissile; sepals 4-8. 125. LEWISIA, 92. 



Capsule not circumscissile; sepals 2. 



Corolla zygomorphic; styles short, cleft nearly to 



the base. 126. MONTIA, 93. 



Corolla regular; styles elongated, united nearly 

 to the top. 127. CLAYTONIA, 93. 



124. PORTULACA. 



Low fleshy herbs; leaves alternate or partly opposite; stipules 

 scarious or none, or reduced to hairy tufts; flowers terminal and 

 sessile, expanding in direct sunshine before mid-day, soon closing; 

 sepals 2, coherent at the base in a tube and adnate to the ovary; 

 stamens 7-20; ovules numerous. 



Portulaca oleracea L. Purslane. Annual, prostrate, fleshy, forming 

 mats 10-40 cm. in diameter; leaves narrowly obovate, obtuse or truncate, 

 narrowed at base, 1-2 cm. long, glabrous; calyx-lobes ovate, keeled; petals 

 yellow, notched at the apex; stamens 7-12; capsule conical, acute, dehiscing 

 below the middle. Becoming abundant as a weed along stream banks and 

 in cultivated land. 



125. LEWISIA. 



Low acaulescent fleshy perennial herbs, with fleshy roots or a 

 corm; flowers on short scapes, showy; sepals 4-8; petals 3-16; 

 stamens numerous; capsule circumscissile; seeds many, black, 

 shining. 



Sepals 4-8; scape jointed and with an involucre of 5-7 bracts. L. rediviva. 

 Sepals 2; scape with only 2 bracts. 



With fleshy conical root; stem leaves 2, bract-like. L. nevadensis. 



With globose corm; stem leaves 2 or 3, linear. L. triphylla. 



Lewisia rediviva Pursh. Rock Rose or Bitter Root. Roots thick, fusiform, 

 often forked; leaves numerous in a basal cluster, linear or club-shaped, thick 

 and fleshy, 2-5 cm. long, shorter than the scape; scapes 5-8 cm. high, jointed 



