136 CARYOPHYLLACEAE. 



1. T. marina (L.) Britton. Stout, erect or ascending, more or 

 less glandular-pubescent, 3 dm. high or less; leaves fleshy, 2-4 cm. 

 long, linear, clustered in the axils; petals rose color; stamens 10; 

 mature capsule 5-8 mm. long; seeds smooth or somewhat roughened, 

 sometimes margined. 



Common in salt marshes toward the coast. 



2. T. tenuis Greene. Slender, diffusely branching, forming 

 depressed mats about 3 dm. broad, glabrous or nearly so; leaves 

 narrowly linear, 2.5 cm. long; stipules inconspicuous; flowers minute, 

 numerous, cymosely crowded on all but the lower parts of the 

 branches, subsessile; sepals obtuse, less than 2 mm. long; petals 

 wanting; stamens 2; styles 3; capsule 3-sided, 6-8 mm. long; seeds 

 numerous, minute, reddish-brown, smooth, wingless. 



Santa Monica, Nevin. 



3. T. gracilis (Wats.) Britton. Much resembling the last, but 

 the flowers on pedicels 2-4 mm. long; capsule 2 mm. long; seeds 

 triangular-pyriform, strongly rough-tuberculate. 



Occasional on the mesas in low adobe soil; Wilmington; Ingle- 

 wood. March-April. 



4. T. macrotheca (Hornem.) Britton. Perennial, from a fleshy 

 root; glandular-pubescent or nearly smooth; stems stout, ascending, 

 4 dm. high or less, branching from the base; leaves broadly linear, 

 4 cm. long or less; flowers on pedicels usually about 15 mm. long; 

 calyx-lobes 6-8 mm. long; petals rose color; stamens 10; capsule 

 equaling the calyx-lobes; seeds winged, smooth. 



Common in salt marshes and alkaline flats. May-July. 



8. POLYCARPON L. 



Low diffuse, dichotomously branched annuals with 

 flat stipulate leaves and minute cymose flowers. Sepals 

 5, carinate-concave. Petals 5, minute, hyaline. Sta- 

 mens vS-5. Ovary 1-celled; style short, 3-cleft. Capsule 

 3-valved, several-seeded. 



1. P. depressum Nutt. Very slender, prostrate, the many 

 branches 2.5-5 cm. long; leaves opposite, spatulate, glabrous; 

 stipules small, narrow; flowers minute; the pedicels with small 

 bracts; petals very narrow, shorter than the sepals, entire; capsule 

 globose, 6-12-seeded. 



On seashore sand-dunes, and in sandy soil in the foothills. Not 

 common. March-May. 



9. LOEFLINGIA L. 



Low much branched rather rigid and pungent-leaved 

 annuals. Leaves with adnate and connate setaceous 

 stipules. Flowers small, sessile in the axils of the leaves 

 and branches. Sepals 5, rigid, carinate. Petals minute 

 or none. Capsule 2-valved, several-seeded. 



