PurslanB HOUTUS JAMAICENSIS. 107 



PURGING SEA BINDWEED. CONVOLVULUS. 



Cl. 5, or. 1. Pentandria monogynid. Nat. or. Campanac&z. 

 Gen. char. See Bindweeds, vol. 1, p. 88. 



BRAS1LIENS1S. BRASILIA??. 



Convolvulus marinus calhartlcus folio rot undo. Sloane, v. 1, p. I5T, 

 Maritimus, foliis nitidis sub-rot undis emarginatis, petiolis biglan- 

 dulis. Browne, p. 153. 



Leaves emarginate, with two glands at the base ; peduncles three-flowered. 

 This, which is also known by the name of sea-side potatoe-sh'p, has a deep, white, 

 oblong, root, with a great many long round stems, as big a? the little finger, trailing 

 and spreading to a considerable distance. The leaves are placed on them without any 

 order, on two inches long pedicels ; they are heart-shaped, or roundish, about two 

 inches in diameter, hating several ribs and a middle nerve, smooth, of a yellowish 

 green colour. Flowers large, whitish purple, in threes, on long peduncles. Capsule 

 large, oval, three-celled, with one seed in each cell, which are cornered, almost like 

 those of the Spanish arbour vine. The whole plant is full of a milky juice, and smells 

 very strong. Sloane. It grows on the Keys near Port- Royal, and on the sandy-seashore ; 

 creeping a considerable way, and throwing out some short foliated branches, from 

 space to space as it runs ; the leates arc beautifully veined, and have a small notch at 

 top ; the root is a strong purgative, and sometimes used with success in hydropic cases. 

 Browne. Sloane says the leaves are used in baths for dropsies, and put on issues to 

 draw them. The stalks and leaves are temperately warm and emollient. Plunder says 

 he learned that the inspissated juice was very purgative, and a kind of scanmony, and 

 may be given as such, from twelve to fourteen grains ; and may be corrected by sul- 

 phur, or cream of tartar ; or with guavas or almonds. 



PURSLANE. PORTULACA. 



Cl. 11, or. 1. Dodecandria monogynia. Nat. or. Succulent ee. 



Cen. CHAR. Calyx a bifid perianth, small, compressed at the tip, permanent; the 

 corolla has five petals, flat, erect, hlunt, larger than the calyx ; stamens many 

 filaments, capillary, shorter by half than the corolla, with simple anthers ; the 

 pistil has a roundish germ, a simple short style, five oblong stigmas the length of 

 the style ; the pericarp a covered capsule, ovate, one-celled ; receptacle free ; 

 seeds numerous, small. Four species are indigenous to Jamaica. 



I. OLERACEA. POT-HERB. 



Portulaca latifolia sru sativa. Sloane, v. I, p. 204. Foliis cunei~ 

 formibus, floribus sessilibus. Browne, p. 233. 



Common purslane is an annual herbaceous plant, with a round, smooth, procumbent, 

 succulent, stem, frequently red, and'diffused branches, often throwing out fibres at 

 the joints ; leaves more or less wedge-shaped, oblong, blunt, fleshy, smooth, quite 

 entire, sessile, clustered, especially at the' ends of the branches. Flowers s cssile, 



O 2 scattered ; 



