4. Sesuvium vemicosum Raf. Fig. 434. 



Freely branched prostrate perennial herb; stems to 9 dm. long, smooth and 

 usually more or less finely verrucose with crystalline globules, when dry brownish- 

 tan to light-grayish-tan in color; leaves oblanceolate to oblong-ovate or sometimes 

 with some linear-oblong, rounded to somewhat subacute at apex, tapered into an 

 expanded scarious clasping base, to 3 cm. long and 1 cm. wide above the middle, 

 those of the branchlets mostly shorter than the internodes; flowers subsessile or 

 with a short stout pedicel; calyx lobes broadly ovate-elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, 

 4.5-7 mm. long, hooded, with a subapical dorsal prolonged appendage; stamens 

 numerous; capsule conic, about 5 mm. long and 3 mm. in diameter; seeds black, 

 smooth and lustrous, about 1 mm. long. 



In saline and alkaline soils about lakes, in creek bottoms and on mud flats and 

 clay dunes in w. Okla. {Waterfall), in w. and n.w. Tex.. N.M. (Chaves Co.) and 

 Ariz. (Maricopa, Pinal and Yuma cos.), Apr.-Aug.; a plant of the interior from 

 Mo. and Ark. to Tex., N.M., Ariz, and Calif.; also n. Mex. 



5. Sesuvium sessile Pers. Lowland purslane. 



Succulent sprawling much-branched perennial that spreads by rhizomes, form- 

 ing mats to 6 dm. or more in diameter, the herbage densely covered and almost 

 completely concealed by crystalline globules, when dry dark-gray to almost black- 

 ish; stems prostrate and ascending at tips; leaves essentially sessile, linear to 

 narrowly linear-oblong or some narrowly oblanceolate, obtuse at apex, to 3 cm. 

 long, mostly less than 3 mm. wide, those of the branchlets longer than the inter- 

 nodes; flowers sessile or with short stout pedicels; calyx lobes mostly oblong- 

 elliptic, obtuse, 4-7 mm. long, the outer surface densely covered with crystalline 

 globules, pink within, with a subapical dorsal prolonged appendage; stamens 

 numerous, the anthers pink; capsule triangular-ovoid, about 4 mm. long and 3 

 mm. wide at base; seeds dark-brown, about 1 mm. long. 



In moist saline soils about lakes and lagoons, on flats and clay dunes and in 

 open grassy woodlands in extreme s. Tex., very rare inland, flowering the year 

 around; from Tex. to Calif., s. to S.A. 



6. Sesuvium erectum Correll. 



Perennial, typically erect to erect-spreading or sometimes decumbent, more or 

 less adorned throughout with crystalline globules; when dry brownish-black to 

 dark-gray; stems to 5 dm. or more long; leaves linear-oblong to oblanceolate or 

 spatulate, obtuse at apex, tapered below to a clasping base, to 4 cm. long and 8 

 mm. wide; flowers numerous, in the axils of leaves and branches, sessile or with 

 pedicels rarely to 5 mm. long; calyx lobes broadly elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, 

 obtuse to subacute at apex, rose-purple within, 4-8 mm. long, with a subapical 

 dorsal appendage about equal to or greatly exceeding the sepal apex; styles 3 to 5, 

 conspicuous, typically black when dry; stamens numerous; capsule ovoid, blunt 

 and truncate at apex, about 5 mm. long and 3 mm. in diameter; seeds black, 

 plump, about 1 mm. long. 



Along canals, on shell deposits, and about ponds and in depressions in dunes 

 and sand hills on and near the coast in s. Tex. with an extension inland along the 

 Rio Grande to the Trans-Pecos, Apr.-July; undoubtedly also in n.e. Mex. 



Fam. 57. Portulacaceae Juss. Purslane Family 



Annual or perennial herbs or rarely shrubs, glabrous or rarely pilose at the 

 nodes, more or less succulent; leaves opposite, alternate or in basal rosettes, entire, 

 often fleshy; stipules scarious, lacerate or modified into hairs, or none; flowers 

 solitary, racemose, paniculate or cymose, terminal or axillary, perfect, regular or 



879 



