4(3). Distribution in west and northwest Texas westward; leaves mostly oblanceo- 

 late; plants usually drying light-brown 4. S. verrucosum. 



4. Distribution primarily on or near the coast in south Texas (S. erectum extend- 



ing inland along the Rio Grande in Trans-Pecos region); plants 

 drying blackish or dark-gray (5) 



5(4). Plants prostrate to decumbent, densely covered with crystalline globules; 

 leaves sessile, mostly all linear-oblong 5. 5. sessile. 



5. Plants typically erect to erect-spreading, sometimes decumbent, sparsely cov- 



ered with crystalline globules; leaves mostly oblanceolate 



6. 5'. erectum. 



1. Sesuvium maritimum (Walt.) B.S.P. Fig. 433. 



Plant glabrous and succulent throughout; stems prostrate, procumbent to 

 ascending at tips, freely branched, sometimes forming mats to 2 m. in diameter; 

 leaves spatulate to narrowly oblanceolate or obovate, rounded to obtuse at the 

 apex, tapering at base to a short clasping petiole, to about 25 mm. long; flowers 

 usually solitary in leaf axils, sessile; calyx lobes ovate to ovate-oblong, obtuse, 

 with a subapical dorsal prolonged appendage, pink or purplish within, 2-3 mm. 

 long; stamens 5; capsule ovoid, about 4 mm. long; seeds brownish-black, smooth 

 and somewhat iridescent. 1 mm. long or less. 



On sea beaches and low sandy banks near and along the coast in s.e. Tex., 

 flowering the year around: from N.Y. to Fla. and Tex.; also W.I. 



2. Sesuvium trianthemoides Correll. Fig. 432. 



Plant annual, fleshy, brown when dry, branched from the base, the herbage with 

 scattered large crystalline globules; stems to 35 cm. long or more, the internodes 

 4-5 cm. long; leaves opposite, oblanceolate to spatulate, obtuse at apex, at least 

 3 cm. long (including the petiole) and 1 cm. wide above the middle, tapered below 

 into a conspicuous petiole; petiole broadly scarious-winged at base and clasping; 

 flowers solitary in the axils of leaves and branches, sessile; calyx lobes triangular- 

 ovate, subacute at apex, strongly nerved, about 3.5 mm. long, with hyaline mar- 

 gins, the dorsal apical appendage small; stamens 5, with slender filaments about 1 

 mm. long; ovary ovoid, 2-celled; styles 2, about 0.5 mm. long; capsule ovoid- 

 ellipsoid, pointed at apex, 4-5 mm. long, circumscissile; seeds about 10 in each 

 capsule, about 1.5 mm. long, conspicuously rugose with brownish granular irregular 

 ridges; with additional light patches extended in irregular lines from the hilum. 



In wet depressions in dunes of s. Tex., June-Aug.; endemic. 



3. Sesuvium Portulacastrum L. Cenicilla. Fig. 434. 



Glabrous fleshy perennial herb; stems trailing, much-branched, often rooting 

 at the nodes, sometimes forming patches 2 m. across; leaves narrowly oblong to 

 oblanceolate or elliptic-obovate, to 6 cm. long and 25 mm. broad, obtuse-rounded 

 to abruptly acute at apex, tapered into a clasping base (with these commonly over- 

 lapping); flowers pedicelled, solitary in the leaf axils; calyx lobes broadly ovate- 

 lanceolate to lanceolate, to 1 cm. long and 6 mm. broad, hooded, pink-purple 

 within, often strongly veined, with a subapical dorsal prolonged appendage; 

 stamens numerous, the filaments about 5 mm. long, the oblong-elliptic anthers 

 about 1 mm. long; ovary ovoid-globose, about 3 mm. long and thick; styles some- 

 times distinct to base; capsule conic, about 1 cm. long and 5-6 mm. in diameter; 

 seeds black, smooth and lustrous, 1.2-1.5 mm. long. 



On beaches, edge of bays and in wet sand or clay dunes along the coast in Tex., 

 subject to salt water flooding, rarely inland, flowering the year around; from Fla. 

 to Tex., s. to S.A.; also the Old World trop. 



876 



