CARPET-WEED FAMILY 117 



2. GLiNUS L. Sp. PI. 463. 1753. 



Annuals with the general habit of Mollugo, pubescent or glabrous. Leaves verticil- 

 late, entire. Flowers in dense clusters, on short peduncles from the upper nodes. Calyx 

 free from the ovary; sepals distinct. Petals none. Stamens 5-10, or rarely more. Fruit 

 a loculicidal 3-celled capsule. Seeds numerous, minute, with a distinct strophiole, the 

 funiculus very large, coiled about the seed. [An ancient Greek name for a kind of maple, 

 the application to these plants not known.] 



A genus of 10 species, widely distributed in the tropical and warm temperate regions. Type species, Glinus 

 lotoides L. 



1. Glinus lotoides L. Glinus. Fig. 1604. 



Glinus lotoides L. Sp. PI. 463. 1753. 



Plants cinereous-tomentose with branched hairs, the stems diffusely branched from the base, 

 prostrate or ascending. Leaf blades 6-15 mm. long, narrowly to broadly obovate, rounded at 

 the apex, narrowed below to a slender petiole of about equal length; flowers pedicellate or sub- 

 sessile, in glomerules ; sepals 4-7 mm. long, broadly oblong; stamens 5-10; seeds granulated, 

 black. 



Locally established in central California, native of the Old World. Type locality: "In Sicilia, Hispania ad 

 fossas." June-Nov. 



3. CYPSELEA Turpin, Ann. Mus. Paris 7 : 219. pi. 121. 1806. 



A diminutive prostrate annual, with opposite unequal leaves and scarious stipules. 

 Calyx free from the ovary, with a short campanulate tube, the lobes 4 or 5, unequal, 

 herbaceous. Petals none. Stamens 1-3, alternate with the calyx-lobes. Ovary ovoid or 

 globose, 1-celled; style 2-cleft. Capsule thin-walled, circumscissile. Seeds many, minute, 

 attached to the free central placenta by slender straight persistent funiculi. [Name 

 Greek, meaning beehive, in reference to the fruit, which suggests a beehive.] 



A monotypic West Indian genus. 



1. Cypselea humifusa Turpin. Cypselea. Fig. 1605. 



Cypselca humifusa Turpin, Ann. Mus. Paris 7: 219. pi. 121. 1806. 

 Radiana petiolata Raf. Specchio 1: 88. 1814. 



Stems much branched, prostrate, forming mats 2.5-5 cm. wide. Leaves opposite, glabrous, 

 those of each pair unequal, the larger elliptical, 4-5 mm. long, on slender petioles of about equal 

 length, the smaller similar in shape, scarcely half as long and bearing a fascicle of small ones, 

 and a pedicellate flower in its axils ; stipules scarious, fimbriate ; calyx-lobes ovate, obtuse, 1 mm. 

 long, erect, scarious-margined. 



Low ground, locally established; Santa Cruz and the lower San Joaquin River, California. Introduced from 

 the West Indies. July-Aug. 



4. TRlANTHEMA L. Sp. PI. 223. 1753. 



Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, the stems usually branched at the base and 

 spreading. Leaves opposite, those of each pair unequal. Stipules present. Flowers soli- 

 tary in the axils. Calyx-tube free from the ovary, 5-lobed. Petals none. Stamens 5 or 6, 

 sometimes 10, perigynous, alternating with the calyx-lobes when the same number. Ovary 

 2-celled or often 1-celled by suppression, truncate; styles 1 or usually 2; ovules 1 to few, 

 basal. Capsule cylindrical or turbinate, tardily circumscissile, somewhat leathery above, 

 usually with 2 marginal wing-like crests partly or wholly enclosing the apex. [Name 

 Greek, meaning three and flower in allusion to the stamens.] 



A genus of 15 species; all but the following, which is the type, are in the tropical regions of the Old World. 



1. Trianthema Portulacastrum L. Horse Purslane. Fig. 1606. 



Trianthema Portulacastrum L. Sp. PI. 223. 1753. 

 Trianthema monogyna L. Mant. 1: 69. 1767. 

 Portulacastrum monogynum Medic. Phil. Bot. 1: 99. 1789. 



Annual succulent herb, glabrous, branching from the base, the branches decumbent, 1-3 dm. 

 long. Leaves orbicular-obovate, or the smaller narrower, 15-25 mm. long, with smaller ones on 

 the axillary branchlets ; petioles about equaling the blade, dilated at base ; stipules scarious, en- 

 tire ; flowers sessile and usually solitary in the axils; calyx-lobes lanceolate, 2.5 mm. long, 

 colored, with a dorsal mucronation near the apex ; capsule 4 mm. long, cylindical, somewhat 

 curved, the winged appendages at the apex prominent. 



Sandy soils, Lower Sonoran Zone; Imperial Valley, California, to Texas and Florida, south to Lower Cali- 

 fornia, Mexico, and the West Indies. Type locality : Jamaica. June— Nov. 



5. SESUVIUM L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 1058. 1759. 



Annual or perennial herbs or undershrubs, with fleshy opposite leaves and no stipules. 

 Flowers solitary in the axils, sessile or on short stout pedicels. Calyx-tube turbinate, 



