to acute or apiculate at apex, to 25 mm. long and 15 mm. wide; flowers in clusters 

 of 10 or more; calyx lobes oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, about 2.7 mm. long, 

 stellate-tomentose; stamens 3 to 5, shorter than the calyx lobes; filaments filiform, 

 about 1 mm. long; anthers about 0.5 mm. long; capsule ellipsoid, 3-3.5 mm. long; 

 seeds numerous, brown, smooth and shining, sometimes pebbly, about 0.4 mm. 

 long. G. Cambessedesii Fenzl. 



In muddy or sandy soils and in mud of lagoons in river bottoms, in s. and e. 

 Tex., Apr.-Oct.; from Tex. through Mex. and the W.I. to S.A. 



3. Trianthema L. 



About 20 species, with all but ours in tropical and temperate regions of the 

 Old World. 



1. Trianthema Portulacastnim L. Horse purslane, verdolaga blanca. Fig. 432. 



Annual succulent herb, glabrous, branching from the base; branches decumbent, 

 sometimes to 1 m. long; leaves opposite, in unequal pairs, broadly obovate to 

 suborbicular-obovate or the smaller ones narrower, rounded to notched or apicu- 

 late at the apex, the blades to 4 cm. long and 3 cm. wide, with smaller ones on the 

 axillary branchlets; petioles about equaling the blade, dilated at the base; 

 stipules scarious, entire; flowers sessile and usually solitary in the leaf axils, 

 partly concealed in the petiolar sheath; calyx lobes 5, ovate-lanceolate to lanceo- 

 late, concave, about 2.5 mm. long, pinkish-purple within, with a dorsal mucrona- 

 tion near the apex; petals none; stamens 5 to 10, perigynous, alternating with 

 the calyx lobes when the same number; ovary superior; capsule about 4 mm. 

 long, cylindrical, somewhat curved, the winged appendages at the apex prominent; 

 seeds reniform, black, rough, about 2 mm. in diameter. 



In sandy soils of thickets, on dunes and in waste grounds along streams and 

 irrigation canals, in s. Okla., mostly in s. and w. Tex., through N.M. (Dona Ana 

 and Otero cos.) and generally in Ariz., May-Oct.; from Fla. to Calif., s. through 

 Latin Am.; also Old World trop. 



4. Sesuvium L. Sea Purslane 



Annual or perennial succulent herbs or undershrubs, with prostrate or ascend- 

 ing to suberect stems and branches; leaves opposite, fleshy, without stipules, the 

 petiole often dilated and sometimes connate at the base; flowers solitary in the 

 leaf axils, sessile or with short stout pedicels; calyx tube turbinate, adnate below 

 to the ovary; calyx lobes 5, usually horned on the back near the apex; petals 

 none; stamens 1 to many, perigynous, sometimes slightly united into phalanges, 

 the filaments filiform; ovary half-superior, 2- to 5-celled with as many styles; 

 capsule membranaceous, 2- to 5-celled, ovoid, circumscissile; seeds stalked, usually 

 many in each cell, minute, smooth or rarely rugose. 



About 10 species widely distributed but mainly maritime or in saline soils in 

 warm temperate, tropical or subtropical America. 



1. Stamens 5 (2) 



1. Stamens numerous (3) 



2(1). Seeds smooth; in southeast corner of Texas 1. S. maritimum. 



2. Seeds conspicuously rugose; in extreme south Texas 2. S. trianthemoides. 



3(1). Flowers all distinctly pedicelled; stems rooting at nodes 



3. S. Portulacastrum. 



3. Flowers both sessile and with stout inconspicuous pedicels; stems not rooting 



at nodes (4) 



875 



