CARPET-WEED FAMILY 115 



1. BATIS [P. Br.] L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 1380. 1759. 

 Characters of the family. 



A single species, inhabiting the tropical and subtropical regions of the western hemisphere, and the Hawaiian 

 Islands. 



1. Batis maritima L. Salt-wort. Fig. 1602. 



Batis maritima L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 1380. 1759. 

 Batis calif arnica Torr. Smiths. Contr. 6: 8. 1854. 



A pale glabrous strong-scented woody plant, with spreading or prostrate stems, the branch- 

 lets often erect. Leaves fleshy, semi-terete, 10-25 mm. long, acutish; staminate spikes sessile, 

 ovoid-cylindric, 5-10 mm. long ; bracts rounded, broader than long ; calyx shorter than the 

 bracts ; stamens exserted, exceeding the triangular staminodia ; pistillate spikes short-peduncled ; 

 pistils coalescing forming a fleshy aggregate fruit. 



Salt marshes along the coast, Sonoran Zones; warm temperate and tropical regions of the New World; on 

 the Pacific shores from San Pedro, California, to Galapagos Islands, also in the Hawaiian Islands; and on the 

 Atlantic from North Carolina to Florida, Texas, West Indies, and Brazil. Type locality: Jamaica. July-Oct. 



Family 41. AIZOACEAE. 



Carpet-weed Family. 



Annual or often succulent perennial herbs or some exotic species somewhat 

 woody, the stems usually prostrate. Leaves opposite, verticillate or rarely alternate, 

 base of the petioles sometimes dilated. Stipules none or when present scarious. 

 Flowers solitary or clustered in the axils, regular and perfect. Calyx 4-5-lobed or 

 -parted, the tube free or adnate to the ovary. Petals none or (Mesembryanthemum) 

 many and linear. Stamens 3 to many, inserted on the calyx-tube or hypogynous. 

 Styles 3-20 ; ovary 3-20-celled. Fruit various, either a thin-walled capsule dehiscing 

 loculicidally or septicidally, fleshy and dehiscing by apical stellate valves, or nut-like 

 and indehiscent. Seeds numerous ; embryo annular ; endosperm scanty or copious. 



A family of 19 genera and about 570 species, 400 of which belong to the genus Mesembryanthemum, mainly 

 of the southern hemisphere and tropical regions. 



Ovary superior; petals none. 



Leaves verticillate; calyx-tube wanting or nearly so; capsule loculicidal. 



Plants glabrous; stamens 3-5; seeds not strophiolate. 1. Mollugo. 



Plants pubescent; stamens 5-10; seeds strophiolate. 2. Glinus. 



Leaves opposite; calyx-tube evident; capsule circumscissile. 



Stipules present, scarious; ovary 1-2-celled. 



Calyx-lobes unappendaged; stamens 1—3; ovules numerous. 3. Cypselea. 



Calyx-lobes appendaged on the back toward the apex; stamens 5-10; ovules few. 



4. Trianthema. 



Stipules absent; stamens numerous; ovary 3-5 -celled. 5. Sesuvium. 



Ovary inferior. 



Petals none. 6. Tetragonia. 



Petals many. 7. Mesembryanthemum. 



1. MOLLUGO L. Sp. PI. 89. 1753. 



Annual, profusely branched herbs, with rosulate, verticillate or alternate leaves. 

 Flowers small, apetalous, axillary or cymose, long-pedicelled. Calyx 5-parted, persistent; 

 sepals scarious-margined. Stamens 3-5, rarely more, hypogynous. Ovary 3-celled, many- 

 seeded. Capsule ovoid, thin-walled, 3-valved, loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds not strophio- 

 late. [The ancient Latin name of some plant, from mollis meaning soft.] 



About 12 species, mostly natives of tropical regions. Type species, Mollugo verticillata L. 



1. Mollugo verticillata L. Carpet- weed. Fig. 1603. 



Mollugo verticillata L. Sp. PI. 89. 1753. 



Plant glabrous throughout, the stems dichotomously branched, prostrate, 10-20 cm. long, 

 not succulent. Leaves verticillate, with 5 or 6 in a whorl, 10-25 mm. long, spatulate to narrowly 

 oblanceolate, obtuse, entire, narrowed to a short petiole; flowers axillary; pedicels filiform; 

 sepals 1 . 5-2 mm. long, oblong ; capsule slightly exceeding the sepals ; seeds minute, reniform, 

 smooth and shining or slightly granular. 



In waste places and cultivated grounds; Washington to New Brunswick, south to Lower California, Mexico, 

 and tropical America where it is native. Type locality: "Habitat in Africa, Virginia." June-Oct. Also called 

 Indian Chickweed. 



Mollugo Cerviana (L.) Ser. in DC. Prod. 1: 391. 1824. Annual herb, with numerous ascending branches, 

 4-20 cm. high. Leaves glaucous, the basal forming a rosette, linear-spatulate, 3-15 mm. long; stem leaves 

 whorled, linear; flowers verticillate; pedicels capillary, often longer than the leaves; sepals about 1 mm. long; 

 capsule subglobose. A weed of warm temperate and tropical regions. Has appeared as a waif in Thomas V alley, 

 Riverside County, California. 



