PURSLANE FAMILY 119 



clasping; flowers axillary, sessile or nearly so; calyx-tube campanulate, 6-10 mm. long; petals 

 white or tinged with rose, capsule 5-celled. 



Usually in saline soil near the coast; Monterey County to Lower California, and locally in the interior 

 valleys and deserts of southern California; also Canary Islands, Mediterranean region, and South Africa. Type 

 locality: "Habitat in America?" March-Oct. 



Mesembryanthemum cordifolium L. f. Suppl. 260. 1781. Leaves opposite, flat, ovate with a rounded 

 or cordate base, finely papillate; flowers about 15 mm. broad; calyx-lobes 4; capsule 4-valved, the valves without 

 wings on the margins. 



Locally naturalized along the coast of Oregon and California. Native of South Africa. 



3. Mesembryanthemum chilense Molina. Sea Fig. Fig. 1611. 



Mesembryanthemum chilense Molina, Sagg. Chile ed. 2. 133. 1810. 

 Mesembryanthemum dimidiatum Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. 4: 75. 1857. 

 Carpobrotus chilensis N. E. Brown, Journ. Bot. 66: 324. 1928. 



Smooth glabrous perennial, the stems prostrate, rooting at the nodes, often forming exten- 

 sive mats. Leaves 3-angled, 4-7 cm. long. 10-15 mm. thick, very succulent; flowers solitary, 

 terminal, sessile or nearly so, 3-5 cm. broad ; calyx-tube turbinate, 2-4 cm. long, the larger f olia- 

 ceous lobes nearly as long; petals magenta; ovary 8-10-celled. 



Sand dunes and bluffs along the seashore, Transition and Sonoran Zones; Point Blanco, Oregon, to Lower 

 California; also Chile, Australia, and Tasmania. Type locality: sandy shores of Chile. April-Sept. 



This species has been confused in the California floras with the African species M. aequilaterale Haw. 



Mesembryanthemum edule L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 1060. 1759. (Hottentot Fig.) Closely resembling 

 M. chilense in vegetative characters, but leaves longer, brighter green, and the flowers larger, 8-10 cm. in diam- 

 eter; petals yellow or red-purple. Frequently planted on banks for erosion protection or as a sand binder, be- 

 coming naturalized in central and southern California. Native of South Africa. 



Family 42. PORTULACACEAE.* 



Purslane Family. 



Perennial or annual herbs, with or without stipules, more or less succulent, rarely 

 somewhat woody. Leaves alternate, opposite or basal, entire. Flowers perfect, 

 regular or nearly so. Sepals commonly 2, rarely more, sometimes cohering at the 

 base. Petals 3-16, generally hypogynous, entire or emarginate, quickly withering, 

 often more or less united at the base. Stamens few to many, opposite the petals 

 when of the same number and usually adnate to their bases ; anthers versatile. 

 Ovary commonly superior, 1 -celled with few to many ovules on a free central or 

 basal placenta; styles 2-8-cleft or distinct. Fruit a capsule circumscissile or de- 

 hiscent by 2 or 3 valves. Seeds 1 to many, mostly round-reniform to orbicular, 

 somewhat compressed, often strophiolate ; embryo curved. 



About 20 genera and 220 species, widely distributed but most abundant in temperate regions. 



Capsule 2-3-valved, dehiscing from the apex. 



Sepals deciduous. 1- Talinum. 



Sepals persistent. 



Capsule dehiscent by 3 valves; inflorescence not secund or rarely inconspicuously so. 



Seeds 18-35; stem leaves alternate. 2. Calandrinia. 



Seeds 1-6; stem leaves for the most part opposite. 



Plants with deep-seated corms or fleshy roots; ovules 6. 3. Claytonia. 



Plants with fibrous roots or reproducing by runners or bulblets; ovules 3. 4. Montia. 

 Capsule dehiscent by 2 valves; inflorescence secund. 



Style long, filiform; petals in drying twisting about the style. 5. Spraguea. 



Style very short; petals on drying folding as a cap over the capsule. 6. Calyptridium. 



Capsule circumscissile. 



Ovary completely superior; capsule splitting upward from the line of dehiscence. 7. Lewisia. 



Ovary partly inferior; upper part of the capsule not splitting. 8. Portulaca. 



1. TALINUM Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 245. 1763. 



Herbaceous plants, sometimes suffrutescent at the base, often from a tuberous root 

 Leaves usually alternate, exstipulate, the blades flat or terete. Flowers in cymes or soli- 

 tary in the leaf axils. Sepals 2, deciduous. Petals usually 5, soon withering. Stamens as 

 many or more than the petals. Style 3-lobed or -cleft. Capsules 3-valved. Seeds many, 

 flattened, round-reniform. [Aboriginal name of a Senegal species.] 



About 50 species mostly natives of America, but also occurring in Asia and Africa. Type species, Portulaca 

 triangularis Jacq. 



Midribs of the leaves persistent on branches of the caudex, spinescent, woody; inflorescence 10-25 cm. long. 



1. T. spmescens. 



Midribs of leaves scarcely persistent, if so, not at all spiny; inflorescence 2.5-3.5 cm. long. 2. T. okanoganense. 

 * Text prepared by Roxana Stinchfield Ferris. 



