7i8 



PLUMBAGINACEAE. 



Vol. II. 



calyx, rarely a dehiscent capsule. Seed solitary; testa membranous; endosperm 

 mealy, or none ; embryo straight ; cotyledons entire. 



About 10 genera and 350 species, of wide geograpliic distribution, mostly in saline situations. 

 Inflorescence cymose-paniculate : flowers in one-sided spilies. i. Limonium. 



Flowers in a dense terminal head. 2. Statice. 



I. LIMONIUM [Tourn.] Mill. Card. Diet. Abr. Ed. 4. 1754. 

 [Statice Willd. Sp. PI. i: 1552. 1798.J 

 Herbs, mostly with flat basal leaves, and numerous very small flowers cyitiose-paniculate 

 on the branches of bracted scapes, in l-3-flo\vered bracteolate clusters, forming one-sided 

 spikes. Calyx campanulate or tubular, the limb scarious. 5-toothed, the tube usually lo-ribbed. 

 Petals 5, clawed. Stamens adnate to the bases of the petals. Styles mostly 5, separate in our 

 species, stigmatic along the inner side. Fruit a utricle. [Ancient name of the wild beet.] 



About 1^0 species. Besides the foUowing. 5 others occur in the southern and western parts of 

 the United States. Type species: Statice Limonium L. 



I. Limonium carolinianum (Walt.) Britton. Sea or Sea-side Lavender. ]\Iarsh 



Rosemary. Canker-root. Fig. 3303. 



Slatice caroliniana Walt. FI. Car. ii8. 1788. 



5'. Limonium var. carolinianum A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 270. 1856. 



L. carolinianum Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5 : 255. 1894. 



Glabrous, fleshy, root thick, fusiform or branched, astrin- 

 gent; scape terete, striate, slender, paniculately branched 

 above, 6'-2 high. Leaves oblanceolate, obtuse or acutish 

 and subulate-tipped at the apex, narrowed into margined 

 petioles, entire, or slightly undulate, 3'-io' long, i'-li' wide, 

 shorter than the scapes, the midvein prominent, the lateral 

 veins very obscure; flowers erect, solitary or 2 or 3 together 

 in the sessile secund bracteolate clusters, about 2" high ; 

 calyx 5-toothed, sometimes with as many minute inter- 

 mediate teeth in the sinuses; corolla pale purple; petals 

 spatulate; ovary oblong or ovoid; styles filiform. 



On salt meadows, Labrador to Florida and Texas. Bermuda. 

 Lavender-thrift. Ink-root. Marsh-root. American thrift. July- 

 Oct. 



2. STATICE [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 274. 1753. 

 [.\rmeria Willd. Enum. 333. i8og.] 



Tufted acaulescent fleshy herbs, with slender mostly naked scapes, basal persistent rosu- 

 late narrow leaves with no differentiation into blade and petiole, and rather small short- 

 pedicelled or sessile flowers, in dense terminal glomerate heads, subtended by scarious bracts 

 and bractlets, the lower bracts forming a kind of involucre to the head, the two lowest 

 reflexed and more or less united into a sheath. Calyx funnelform, lo-ribbed, s-toothed, 

 oblique at the base or decnrrent on the pedicel, scarious. Petals 5, distinct, or more or less 

 coherent. Filaments adnate to the bases of the petals. Styles united at the base, pubescent 

 below the middle, longitudinally stigmatic above. Utricle 5-pointed at the summit, rarely 

 dehiscent. [Greek, standing.] 



About 20 species, natives of Europe, north Africa, western Asia, northern North America and 

 southern South America. The following typical species is the only one known in North America. 



Thrift. Sea Pink. 

 3304- 



1809. 



I. Statice Armeria L. Thrift. Sea Pink. Ladies" 

 Cushion. Fig 



Static Armeria L. Sp. PI. 274. 1753. 



Armeria vulgaris Willd. Enum. 333. 



Scape glabrous or somewhat pubescent, 4'-i8' high. 

 Leaves narrowly linear, acute or obtuse, flatfish, obscurely 

 i-nerved, entire, numerous in a basal tuft, i'-3' long, 

 i"-ii" wide; bracts scarious and obtuse, the 2 lower one^ 

 forming a sheath 3"-io" long; head of flowers i'-i' in 

 diameter ; calyx-base decurrent on the very short pedicel, 

 pubescent at least on the stronger nerves: corolla pink, 

 purple or white, 2"-3" broad; petals obtuse or cuspidate. 



Along the sea-coast and on mountains, Quebec and Labrador 

 to Alaska, south on the Pacific Coast to California. Also in 

 Europe, northern Asia, and apparently the same species at the 

 Strait of Magellan. Summer. Sea- or European-thrift. Sea- 

 gilliflower. Sea-grass. Red-root. 



