t>ARONvcHiA. ILLECEBRACE.52. 169 



ciliate particular!}^ at the base ; stems prostrate ; branches ami calyx minutely 

 hairy. Cham, f Schlecht. in Limum, 1. p. 35; If am. 4- Sclinll. .s//.s/. l.p. 

 70; Hook. (^ Am. bot. Beechey, p. 135. F. latifolia, Presl, rel. Hank.; 

 lia-m. f SchuK. I. c. 7. p. \(Sn. Velezia latifolia, Eschscltoltz, in mem. 

 acod. St. Petersb. (5. ser.) 10. fide SchJerht. in Linntva, 3. p. 149. 



Soa-shore of Calilornia, Chamisso, K.^chschoUz, Nultall .'—^temswoody 

 at the base, a span high. Leaves half an inch long, connected at the base 

 by a hairy stipular membrane. Stamens 6-7. Capsule 3-valved. 



Order XXIII. ILLECEBRACEiE. R. Br. 



Paronychieje and a part of Caryophyllacea;, ^. St. Ilil. ; DC. 



Sepals 5, distinct or united at the base, persistent. Petals alternate 

 with the sepals, sometimes manifest, often minute and resembling 

 sterile filaments, frequently wanting. Stamens as many as the sepals 

 and opposite them, or fewer, rarely twice as many, inserted with the 

 petals into the edge of the perigynous (rarely hypogynous) disk that 

 lines the base of the sepals : filaments subulate, usually short : anthers 

 fixed by the middle, introrse. Ovary l-celled by the obliteration of 

 the dissepiments, sometimes imperfectly 2-5-ceUed : styles 2-5, either 

 distinct or partially (sometimes almost wholly) combined, stigmatose 

 along the inner surface. Fruit an utricle, with a solitary seed borne 

 on a slender funiculus rising from the base of the cell, or a 2-5.valved 

 l-celled many. seeded capsule, with the placenta in the axis. Seeds 

 campulitropous. Embryo more or less curved around the outside of 

 mealy albumen. — Herbaceous or rarely suffrutescent branching plants, 

 with opposite or fascicled (rarely alternate) entire mostly sessile 

 leaves, and scarious stipules. Flowers often minute, axillary or termi- 

 nal, cymose or glomerate, or sometimes nearly solitary in the axils of 

 the leaves : bracts usually similar to the stipules. 



Tribe I. ILLECEBREiE. DC. 



Sepals often cuspidate or awned, usually more or less cucullate or 

 concave at the apex internally. Petals resembling sterile filaments, 

 or none. Styles or stigmas 2, distinct or united. Utricle l-seeded. — 

 Leaves opposite, often crowded and fascicled. 



1. PARONYCHIA. ( Tourn.) Juss. mem. mus. 2. p. 388. 



Sepals (oblong- or linear) united at the base, cuspidate or awned at the 

 apex ; the inner portion membranaceous and colored, cucullate or concave at 

 the summit. Petals none, or represented by 5 minute filaments or hnear 

 scales. Stamens 5, inserted into the edge of the disk that lines the base 

 of the sepals within. Styles more or less united : stigmas 2. Utricle inclu- 

 ded in the connivent sepals. 



22 



