TETRANDRIA— TETRAGYNIA. Radiola. c 2i3 



Root fibrous, small. Stems at first erect, but soon becoming pro- 

 cumbent, an inch or two in length, round, leafy. Leaves oppo- 

 site, very succulent, reddish, smooth, oval, obtuse, combined at 

 the base. Ft. axillary, solitary, often accompanied by a pair of 

 smaller leaves. Cat. pointed. Petals narrow, pointed, white 

 with a tinge of red. The whole plant is smooth, so small and 

 depressed that it only becomes remarkable by the ample reddish 

 patches, which it forms over the most dreary sands. The Jiowers 

 are naturally 3-cleft, and of course triandrous - but they are 

 sometimes 4-cleft in strong plants, and Gsertner says 5 -cleft. 

 Still the want of nectaries keeps them generically distinct from 

 the chiefly African genus Crassula. 



86. RADIOLA. Flax-seed. 



Gmel. Syst. v. 2. 289. Fl. Br. 201. Dill. Gen. 126. t. 7. 

 Linocarpum. Mich. Gen. £.21. 



Nat. Orel. Gruinales. Linn. 14. Akin to Caryophyllecc. 

 Juss. 82. See n. 180. Linea. DeCand. 15. — It still re- 

 mains very doubtful to what Order this genus and Linum 

 are nearest akin. 



Col. inferior, of one leaf, in 4 principal segments, each of 

 which is deeply and acutely 3-cleft, permanent. Petals 4, 

 obovate, undivided, spreading, the length of the calyx, 

 and alternate with its principal segments. Filam. 4, awl- 

 shaped, the length of the petals, without any intermediate 

 imperfect filaments. Anth. roundish, of 2 lobes. Germ. 

 superior, roundish, 4-lobed. Styles 4, terminal, capillary, 

 very short, permanent. Stigm. capitate, obtuse. Caps. 

 roundish, somewhat pointed, with 8 furrows, 8 valves, 

 ■with inflexed edges, cohering slightly in pairs, and 8 cells. 

 Seeds solitary, ovate, compressed, polished. 



Small, herbaceous. Stem repeatedly forked. Leaves oppo- 

 site, entire. Fl. from the forks and summits of the stem, 

 stalked. We know but one species, referred by Linnaeus 

 to Linum, from which it differs in structure, as well as in 

 number and habit. 



1. ^.millegrana. Thyme-leaved Flax-seed. 



R. millegrana. FLBr.202. Engl.Bot. v. 13. £.893. Hook. Scot. 60. 



R. linoides. Gmet. Syst. v. 2. 289. 



R. vulgaris serpyllifolia. Dill, in Rail Syn. 345. t. 15. /. 3. Jacob 



Faversh. 92. 

 Linum Radiola. Linn. Sp. PL 402. Syst. Nat. ed. 12. v. 2. 225. 



Willd. v. 1. 1542. Huds. 134. Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 10. 7. FL 



Dan.t. 178. 



r 2 



