FAMILIES OP FLOWERING PLANTS 



97 



OTir common North American representative of tlie family {Phytolacca 



decandra), furnish a most pala- 

 table dish when the young 

 shoots are boiled like Aspara- 

 gus. The berries yield a dart 

 red dye. 



Family Aizoaceae. Carpet- 

 weed Family. Consists of 22 

 genera and about 500 species, 

 natives chiefly of warm regions. 

 They are nearly all herbs of in- 

 significant aspect, usually pros- 

 trate and diffusely branched, 

 with opposite or whorled leaves 

 and small perfect flowers, mostly 

 destitute of petals. The ovary 

 is free from the calyx and sev- 

 eral-celled, becoming a capsule 

 in fruit. The common carpet- 

 weed {MoUugo verticiUafa) is 

 shown in Fig. 80. Sesuvium 

 Po7'tulacastrum, the sea purslane. 



Fig. So. The carpetweed {Mollttgo vcrticiUata) 

 showing enlarged flower and section of fruit. After 

 Britton & Brown, 111. Fl. Northeast. U. S. 



is a familiar plant along the south- 

 ern seacoast. By far the largest 

 genus is Mesembryanthemum, vari- 

 ous species of which are cultivated 

 in gardens, 31. crystaUinmn being 

 the well known " ice plant." It is 

 a curious feature of distribution 

 that two species of this genus oc- 

 cur on the islands off the coast of 

 California, while the remainder are 

 confined almost exclusively to the 

 Old World. The family is also 

 known by the name Ficoideae. 



Family Portulacaceae. Por- 

 tulaca Family. Contains about 20 

 genera and 175 species, largely 

 American, and always showing an 

 afiinity for dr^^ and arid regions, 

 their succulent and fleshy herbage 

 enabling them to withstand any 

 umount of drought. They are 



I'Mg. Si. I^wisia rediviva, a plant of the 

 Family Portiilacaceae, nearly natural size. 

 Original. 



