114 BATIDACEAE 



or ciliate. Flowers in small axillary clusters, minute. Calyx 4-5-parted into equal or un- 

 equal segments. Corolla none. Stamens 3-5, attached to the short calyx-tube ; staminodia 

 4-6. Ovary ovoid; style short, 2-lobed. Utricle membranaceous, included in calyx. Seed 

 erect ; embryo annular. [Name Latin, from hernia, meaning rupture, which one of the 

 species was thought to cure.] 



About 20 species, natives of Europe, western Asia, and Africa. Type species, Hemiaria glabra L. 



1. Herniaria cinerea DC. Gray Herniaria. Fig. 1599. 



Herniaria cinerea DC. Fl. Franc. Suppl. 375. 1815. 



Low spreading mat-like annua!, or in diminutive plants nearly simple and ascending, hispidu- 

 lous throughout. Leaves oblong-oblanceolate, 3-10 mm. long ; flowers in all the axils ; calyx 1 

 mm. long, the short tube turbinate. 



Sparingly introduced in California in the foothills surrounding tue Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley and in 

 southern California. Native of southern Europe. March-June. 



5. CARDIONEMA DC. Prod. 3: 372. 1828. 



Low tufted perennial herbs with subulate pungent leaves and hyaline stipules. Flowers 

 in small axillary clusters, sessile. Sepals 5, nearly distinct, hooded, unequal, the 3 outer 

 larger and tipped with a stout divergent spine. Petals 5, minute and scale-like. Stamens 

 3-5. Style short, 2-cleft. Utricle enclosed in the persistent spiny calyx. [Name Greek, 

 meaning heart and thread, referring to the obcordate stamens.] 



About 8 species, natives of western North and South America. Type species, Cardionema multicaulis DC. 



1. Cardionema ramosissima (Weinm.) A. Nels. & Macbr. Sand Mat. Fig. 1600. 



Loeflingia ramosissima Weinm. Flora 3: 608. 1820. 



Pentacaena ramosissima Hook. & Am. Bot. Misc. 3: 338. 1833. 



Cardionema ramosissima A. Nels. & Macbr. Bot. Gaz. 56: 473. 1913. 



Stems numerous, forming mats 10-15 cm. across, arising from the crown or from branches 

 of the crown of an elongated woody root, densely clothed with conspicuous stipules and leaves, 

 pubescent. Leaves subulate, 5-10 mm. long, pungent, glabrous, 3-ribbed with 2 narrow grooves 

 between; stipules silvery, lanceolate-acuminate, often nearly as long as the leaves; sepals 3-4 

 mm. long, pubescent below the prominent divergent spines ; utricle included in calyx, apiculate. 



Dunes and beaches along the coast, Canadian to Sonoran Zones; Washington to Lower California, Mexico, 

 and Chile. Type locality: Chile. April-Aug. 



6. SCLERANTHUS L. Sp. PI. 406. 1753. 



Low annual or perennial herbs, glabrous or pubescent, with rigid dichotomously 

 branched stems. Leaves opposite, connate at base, subulate, pungent. Stipules none. 

 Flowers small, green, in small axillary or terminal cymose clusters, sessile or pedicelled, 

 without bracts. Calyx 4-5-toothed or -lobed. Petals none. Stamens 1-10, inserted on the 

 calyx; staminodia none. Styles 2, distinct. Ovary ovoid; ovule 1, pendulous, amphitro- 

 pous. Utricle included in the indurated calyx-tube; seed lenticular. [Name Greek, 

 meaning hard and flower, in reference to the indurated calyx.] 



About 10 species of wide geographical distribution in the Old World. Type species, Scleranthus annuus L. 



1. Scleranthus annuus L. Knawel, German Knotgrass. Fig. 1601. 



Scleranthus annuus L. Sp. PI. 406. 1753. 



Low annual, the branches prostrate or spreading, 5-15 cm. long, roughish-puberulent or gla- 

 brous. Leaves subulate, 5-20 mm. long, scarcely pungent, short-ciliolate ; calyx-tube 10-angled, 

 the lobes about equaling the tube, their margins incurved ; filaments subulate, short. 



Roadsides; sparingly naturalized in the Pacific States. Native of Europe. April-June. 



Family 40. BATIDACEAE. 

 Batis Family. 



Low maritime woody plants, with opposite fleshy entire exstipulate leaves. 

 Flowers dioecious, bracteate, in axillary, sessile, ament-like spikes. Bracts of the 

 staminate flowers persistent, those of the pistillate deciduous. Calyx cup-shaped and 

 2-lobed in the staminate flowers, wanting in the pistillate. Corolla none. Stamens 

 4 or 5, alternating with staminodia; anthers introrse. Ovaries 4-12 on a spike, ses- 

 sile, 4-celled ; stigma sessile, cushion-like. Ovule 1 in each cell, erect, anatropous. 

 Fruit an aggregate formed by the coalescence of the pistils. Seeds spatulate, with 

 membranous testa ; endosperm none ; embryo straight, with large cotyledons. 



A tnonotypic family of tropical and subtropical regions of the New World. 



