PORTULACEiE. 175 



Okdee XXYI. PORTULACE/E. 



Jnssieu, Genera Plantarum, 313 (1789). 

 More or less succulent herbs, with entire leaves and regular complete 

 flowers which open in sunshine only. Sepals 2 (in Levnsia 4 — 8), some- 

 times cohering at base. Petals 5, (in Lewisia 8 — 16) often united at base. 

 Stamens commonly 5 (3— oo ), opposite the petals, hypogynous, perigy- 

 nous or epipetalous ; filaments distinct ; anthers versatile. Ovary 

 1 -celled, with few or many ovules on a central placenta. Seeds commonly 

 ^strophiolate ; embryo slender, curved or coiled around a mealy 

 albumen, — A small family, intimately related to both Oaryophyllese and 

 Salsolaceae ; containing some valued ornamental plants, and several 

 weedy sjjecies. The tender herbage of many, like purslane and Olaytonia, 

 recommends them as potherbs. 



1. PORTULACA, LobeJins (Pukslane). Fleshy annuals, with axillary 

 and terminal yellow or rose-colored flowers. Sepals 2, united below and 

 coherent with the base of the ovary ; the limb free and deciduous. 

 Petals 4—6. Stamens 7 — 20, perigynous with the petals. Style 3 — 8- 

 cleft. Capsule circumscissile, opening by a lid. Seeds small. 



1. P. OLERACEA, Liuu. Sp. PI. i. 445 (1758). Prostrate, glabrous, the 

 herbage usually reddish or purplish : leaves flat, obovate, obtuse : sepals 

 acute, carinate : petals 13^ — 2 lines long, yellow : stigmas 5 : capsule 

 3 — 5 lines long: seeds black, dull, minutely tuberculate.— Native of S. 

 Europe, and a very common weed of eastern N. America ; already 

 frequent in California, 



2. P, pilosa, Linn. 1. c. Stems ascending ; linear and subterete 

 leaves with long white hairs in their axils : fl. several, terminal : sepals 

 membranaceous, not keeled, acute : petals 2—3 lines long, bright red : 

 stamens 15 — 25 : stigmas 5 or 6 : seeds black, tuberculate.— Obtained on 

 the State Survey ixi " dry sandy soils near the Soda Springs on the upper 

 Sacramento," but not since reported. 



2. LEWISIA, Pursh. Low acaulescent fleshy perennials, with thick 

 fusiform roots, and short 1-flowered scapes. Sepals 4 — 8, broadly ovate, 

 unequal, persistent, imbricate. Petals 8 — 16, large and showy. Stamens 

 00 . Style 3— 8-parted nearly to the base. Capsule ' circumscissile at 

 base, the upper and deciduous part more or less valvate-cleft. Seeds oo , 

 black and shining. — This genus should perhaps include Calandrinia, 

 which is distinguishable only by the disepalous calyx. 



1. L. redlviva, Pursh. Fl. ii. 368 (1814) ; H. & A. Bot. Beech. 344. t. 

 86 ; Hook. f. Bot. Mag. t. 5395 : L. alba, Kell. Proc. Calif. Acad. ii. 115. 

 fig. 36. Leaves densely clustered on the short thick caudex, linear 

 oblong, glabroiis, glaucous : scapes little exceeding the leaves, jointed at 



