Calamlnma.'] XVII. portulace.'E. 177 



S. Australia. Lynedoeh Valley, F, Mueller. 



V^. Australia. Swan Klver, Lrmumoud, Preiss, «. 1930 ; Vasse river, OldfieU. 



3. CLAYTONIA, Linn. 



Sepals 2, persistent. Petals 5, liypogynous. Stamens 5, opposite the 

 petals and adhering to them at the base. Ovary free, with few ovules ; style 

 3-cleft or 3-fiirrowed at the top. Capsule globular or ovoid, opening in 3 

 valves. Seeds reniform or orbicular, flattened. Embryo curved round the 

 albumen. — Annual or perennial herbs, usually glabrous and somewliat succu- 

 lent. Eadical leaves petiolate, the stem-leaves alternate or opposite, without 

 stipules. Flowers in terminal racemes or cymes, rarely solitary. 



The species are all Xortli American or North- East Asiatic, with the exception of the fol- 

 owing oue, which is confined to Anstralia and N. Zealand. The genus is chiefly distin- 

 guished from Calandrinia hy the stamens constantly of the same number as and opposite 

 the petals, a character generally accompanied by a marked difFercuce in aspect. 



1. C. aiistralasica, IIook,f. in Hook. le. FL t. 293, and Fl. Tasm, i. 

 144. A small tufted plant, with a creeping stem not exceeding a couple of 

 inches in dry places, lengthening out to a foot or more in water. Leaves al- 

 ternate, narrow-linear, obtuse, from 1^ in. in the small plants to 2 or 3 in. in 

 the aquatic ones, usually narrowed below the middle, but with a widened 

 sheathing base often scarious on the edges. Flowers white and large for the 

 gf^nus, terminal or leaf-opposed, solitary or 2 or 3 in a loose raceme, on long 

 pedicels. Sepals small, orbicular. Petals several times longer, obovatc-ob- 

 loiig. Style-lobes filiform. Capsule about as long as the calyx. Seeds 

 usually 3, black, smooth and shining-.— F. MucU. Fragm. iii. 89. 



I 



N. S. M^ales. Yalleys of the Blue 3fomitains, A, Cunningham. 



Victoria. Very common in rich soils and marshy places ascending to the summits of 

 the Australian Alps. l\ Mueller, , ' 



Tasmania, H, Brown, common in moist places throughout the island, ascending to 

 ^^^_^ K J. L Hooker. 



■ Anstralia. Hivoli Bay, F. Mueller. 

 W. Australia, Dmmmond, n. 220, Oldfeld. 

 The species is also found in New Zealand. 



4. MONTIA, Linn. 



Sepals usually 2, persistent. Petals hypogynous, united in a 5-lobed 

 ^^T'olla, split open on one side. Stamens S'or rarely 5, inserted in the top of 

 the corolla-tube. Ovary free, with 3 ovules. Capside globular, opening in 

 3 vnlves. Seeds nearly orbicular. Embryo curved round the albumen.— A 

 sniall annual. Leaves mostly opposite, without stipules. Flowers very small. 



The gen?i? consists probably of a single sjiecies, although some of its most marked varieties 

 have been raised by some authors to tlie rank of species. 



L M. foatana, Linn,; DC. Prod, iii. 362. A little glabrous, green, 

 somewhat succulent annual, fonning dense tufts from 1 to 4 or 5 m. high, 

 the stems becoming longer and weaker in more watery situations. Leaves 

 opposite or nearly so, obovate or spathulate, from 3 to 5 or 6 lines long, 

 l^'lowers solitary or in little drooping racemes of 2 or 3, in the axils of the 



VOL. I, . N 



