380 CONVOLVULACEAE 



sepals and outer surface of corolla-lobes puberulent; flower depressed-globose before anthesis; 

 corolla-lobes widely spreading, ovate to oval, 6-7 mm. long, greenish ; hoods purple, 5-6 mm. 

 long, remaining strongly incurved as in the bud; anther-wings broad, angled above; follicles 

 erect on the decurved pedicels, with or without minute projections, puberulent. 



Dry soils, Sonoran Zones; eastern Mojave Desert (Providence and Clark Mountains), California east 

 to Utah and Kansas, and south to Arkansas, Texas, Arizona and northern Mexico. Type locality: hills near 

 the junction of the Kiamesha and Red Rivers, Arkansas. April— June. 



Family 125. DICHONDRACEAE. 

 DicHONDRA Family. 



Prostrate or creeping, annual or perennial herbs, with glabrous or silky-pubescent 

 herbage, and small orbicular or reniform entire leaves. Flowers small, solitary on 

 slender axillary peduncles. Sepals nearly equal, oblong to spatulate, or obovate. 

 Corolla deeply 5-parted, the lobes spreading, induplicate in the bed. Stamens 5, 

 with slender filaments, about equaling or shorter than the corolla. Ovary deeply 

 2-parted, villous, each lobe 2-celled ; styles 2, simple, arising from near the base of 

 the ovary-lobes; stigma capitate. Fruit a 2-lobed capsule, each lobe 1-2-seeded, 

 pubescent. 



Only 1 genus and about 5 species, natives of warm temperate and tropical regions. Combined by some 

 botanists with the family C onvolvulaceae. 



1. DICHONDRA Forst. Char. Gen. PI. 39. pi 20. \776. 



The only genus in the family. [Name Greek, meaning 2-grained, in reference to the 

 fruit.] 



About 5 species, natives of warm temperate and tropical regions. Type species, Dichondra repens Forst. 



Leaves 2-S cm. broad, glabrous or nearly so, the sinus broad with the blade prominently cuneately decurrent; 



petals well-exserted, about twice the length of the calyx-lobes. 1. D. occidentalis. 



Leaves 1-2 cm. broad, the sinus rather narrow and the blade not decurrent on the petiole; corolla-lobes barely 



exceeding the calyx-lobes. 2. D. repens. 



1. Dichondra occidentalis House. Western Dichondra. Fig. 3849. 



Dichondra occidentalis House, Muhlenbergia 1: 130. 1906. 

 Dichondra repens var. occidentalis Jepson, Fl. Calif. 3: 117. 1939. 



Stems creeping partially or completely buried, each node bearing a single rather long- 

 petiuled leaf on the upper side and usually a simple root on the opposite side. Leaves broadly 

 reniform, 1-3 cm. long, 2-5 cm. broad, the sinus broad with the blade prominently cuneately de- 

 current on the petiole, glabrate on both sides or with only a few scattering hairs ; flowers usually 

 solitary in the axils of the leaves on slender peduncles, these elongated in fruit and more or less 

 recurved; calyx-lobes obovate, 1.5 mm. long, rounded at apex, pubescent; corolla white or 

 purplish, the lobes 2-3 mm. long, well-exserted beyond the calyx-lobes; capsule 4 mm. high, 

 subglobose, very shallowly lobed, sericeous-pubescent; seeds subglobose, brown, nearly or quite 

 glabrous. 



Open places or in the shade of bushes, Sonoran Zones; in the coastal area of Sonoma, Marin, Orange, and 

 San Diego Counties, and on Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Santa Catalina Islands, California; also Todos Santos 

 Island, Lower California. Type locality: San Diego, California. March-May. 



2. Dichondra repens Forst. Dichondra. Fig. 3850. 



Dichondra repens Forst. Char. Gen. PI. 40. pi. 20. 1776. 



Stems creeping, forming mats. Leaves 1-2 cm. broad, suborbicular or somewhat reniform, 



deeply cordate, the sinus rather narrow, not decurrent on the petiole, strigose on the petiole and 



lower surface, only thinly so or glabrate on the upper surface; calyx-lobes oblong-obovate to 



broadly spatulate, 1 . 5-2 mm. long, silky-pubescent ; corolla-lobes about equaling the calyx, ovate, 



acutish; capsule-lobes subglobose, 1.5-2 mm. long, thinly pilose. 



Cultivated as a lawn or ground cover and sometimes growing spontaneously in the Pacific States. Native 

 of the tropical regions. March-June. 



Family 126. CONVOLVULACEAE. 



Morning-glory Family. 



Herbs or some tropical species shrubs or trees, with mostly twining or trailing 

 stems, and alternate exstipulate leaves. Flowers regular, perfect, sympetalous, 

 axillary, cymose or solitary, 5-merous. Calyx parted or divided, usually persistent, 

 the segments imbricated. Corolla funnelform or campanulate, the limb, angled, 

 lobed or entire. Stamens inserted low down on the corolla-tube and alternate with 

 the lobes; anthers 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary superior, 2-4-celled, 

 with 2 ovules in each cell, entire or 2-4-divided; styles 1-3. Fruit a 2-4-valved 



