of the stem and branches, of various colors; calyx 2-cleft; petals 4 to 6, usually 5; 

 stamens 8 to many, inserted at the base of the petals; ovary partly or wholly 

 inferior; styles 3 to 9; ovules numerous; capsule 1 -celled, membranous, circum- 

 scissile, many-seeded; seeds reniform or cochleate, with a smooth or minutely 

 tuberculate or sometimes echinate testa. 



About 200 species of world-wide distribution, mostly tropical and subtropical. 



1. Lower valve of capsule with an expanded circular membranous wing just 



below its rim 1. P. umbraticola. 



1. Capsule rim without a subtending wing 2. P. oleracea. 



1. Poitulaca umbraticola H.B.K. 



A glabrous prostrate to erect or ascending fleshy annual, with angled stems; 

 leaves rather few; blades flat, sessile, the lower spatulate or obovate and obtuse 

 to rounded, the upper oblanceolate to oblong and often acute, 1-3 cm. long, 2-11 

 mm. broad; flowers clustered at the ends of the branches; sepals ovate, obscurely 

 carinate; corolla yellow or orange and partly red; petals spatulate or obovate, 

 acutish or cuspidate; stamens 7 to 27; styles 3 to 6; capsule circumscissile at the 

 middle or above, the rim crowned by a narrow wing, the lid flattish; seeds gray, 

 tuberculate. P. lanceolata Engelm., P. coronata Small. 



In sandy soils in prairies, mesquite thickets, saline flats and salt marsh areas in 

 s.w. Okla. {Waterfall) throughout most of Tex. to Ariz. (Greenlee, Graham, Gila, 

 Pinal, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Pima cos.), Mar.-Nov.; from Tex. to Ariz, and 

 Baja Calif.; also Ga., Cuba and Jam. 



2. Porhilaca oleracea L. Purslane, verdolaga. Fig. 435C. 



Glabrous fleshy annual, with often stout prostrate or ascending branches, the 

 branches spreading radially and 6-30 cm. or more long; axillary hairs few and 

 inconspicuous; leaves alternate, the flat blades obovate-cuneate or spatulate, 6-30 

 mm. long, 0.2-13 mm. broad, occasionally larger, rounded or nearly truncate at 

 the apex; buds flattened, acute; flowers clustered or solitary, sessile, the hairs sur- 

 rounding them inconspicuous or wanting; sepals broadly ovate to orbicular, 

 2.8-4.5 mm. long, 2.8-3.8 mm. broad, keeled, acutish; corolla yellowish; petals 

 3-4.6 mm. long, 1.8-3 mm. broad; stamens 6 to 10; style lobes 4 to 6; capsule 

 5-9 mm. high, circumscissile at or about the middle; seeds black, 0.7-0.8 mm. 

 (rarely 1 mm.) wide, granulate. 



On grassy slopes, moist waste areas, floodlands, dunes and in salt marshes and 

 dry soils of perennial pools throughout most of Okla. and Tex., w. through N. M. 

 to Ariz. (Apache, Navajo, Coconino, Greenlee and Santa Cruz cos.), May-Nov.; 

 in temp, and trop. regions of the world. 



Fam. 58. Caryophyllaceae Juss. Pink or Chickweed Family 



Annual, biennial or perennial herbs or small woody-based plants, with nodose 

 stems; leaves entire, typically opposite or whorled, often united at base, with or 

 without stipules; flowers regular, perfect or rarely unisexual; sepals 4 or 5. per- 

 sistent, distinct or united into a tube; petals as many as sepals, rarely fewer or 

 none, often toothed or lobed; stamens usually as many as and alternating with 

 the petals; filaments sometimes cohering at the base; styles 2 to 5, distinct or more 

 or less united; ovary free from the calyx, 1 -celled or incompletely 2- to 5-celled 

 at base; capsule few- to many-seeded, opening by 2 to 5 entire or bifid valves; 

 seeds small. 



More than 1750 species in about 70 genera, cosmopolitan but most abundant 

 in temperate climates. 



1. Stipules present 7. Spergularia 



1. Stipules none (2) 



884 



