196 PORTULACACEiE. Talinum. 



many valves as stigmas : placenta in the axis. Seeds numerous or 

 few, campulitropous. Embryo curved around the outside of mealy 

 albumen. — Succulent insipid plants. Leaves alternate or opposite, 

 entire, exstipulate. Flowers axillary or terminal, mostly ephemeral. 



Exclud'ms; from the order Triantliema (which should certainly be placed with Sesu- 

 vium, as Arnott suggests), Cypselea (probably a co-ordinate with Sesuvium), and 

 Giiiginsia (which is referred to Illecebrace£e by Bartling, &c.), no exceptions remain 

 to the character of Portulacaceas as given above. Hydropyxis, Raf. maybeleftout 

 of the question, as it was founded on a plant which the author never saw. Leptri- 

 na, of the same author, is a wholly doubtful plant; perhaps Montia. 



1. PORTULACA. Tourn. ; DC. prodr. 3. p. 353. 



Sepals 2, united below, sometimes cohering with the base of the ovary ; 

 the upper portion at length deciduous, separating from the lower near the 

 base by a transverse line. Petals 4-6, inserted on the calyx, equal. Sta- 

 mens 8-20. Style 3-6-cleft at the apex or parted. Capsule subglobose, de- 

 hiscing transversely near the middle. Seeds numerous, on filiform funi- 

 culi. — Humble fleshy herbs. Leaves scattered, often whorled near the 

 flowers, frequently with a tuft of hairs in their axils. Flowers expanding 

 only in sunshine. 



1. P. oleracea (Linn.) : diffuse ; leaves cuneiform, the axils and nodes 

 naked; flowers sessile; petals 5, coherent at the base; stamens 10-12; 

 styles distinct nearly to the base. — DC. pi. gras. t. 123, ^* prodr. I. c. ; Ell. 

 sk. 1. p. 534. 



Cultivated and waste places, nearly throughout N. America ; introduced : 

 indigenous on the saline plains of the Missouri, according to Nuitall <^ Dr. 

 James ! — Q) Flowers pale yellow. — Purslane. 



2. P. pilosa (Linn.) : low, diffuse ; leaves lanceolate or linear, obtuse, 

 with tufts of long hairs in their axils ; flowers crowded and sessile at the 

 summit of the branches in a dense tuft of hairs ; petals 5 (purple), coherent 

 at the base; stamens about 20.— GcErt7i.fr. t. 128; Bot. reg. t. 792; DC. I. 

 c. ; Torr. ! in ami. lye. New- York, 2. p. 202. 



In barren places, N. Carolina? (ex herb. Schweinitz !) On dry rocks, 

 Arkansas &c., Nuttall ! Dr. James ! Dr. Leavenworth ! Texas, Dnim- 

 mond ! — (1) A native also of Mexico and South America. 



2. TALINUM. Adans. (in part.) ; Sims, hot. mag. t. 1357. 



Sepals 2, ovate, concave, deciduous. Petals 5, sessile, hypogynous. Sta- 

 mens 10-20, inserted with the petals, and often coherent with them at the 

 base. Style trifid. Capsule subglobose, 3-valved, many-seeded. 



§ Stigmas or lobes of the style short, connivent. Perennial herbs, with 

 a short thick andfirm stem, and terete subulate fleshy leaves : Jlowers 

 in a terminal dichotomous cyme, expanding for a single day. — Pheme- 



RANTHUS, Raf. 



7^ 1. T. teretifolium. (Pursh): stem simple or branched; leaves crowded at 

 the summit of the short branches ; peduncle elongated ; petals purple ; sta- 



