PRIMULACEiE. (I'RIMROSE FAMILY.) 279 



spreading spikes ; calyx funnel-shaped, smooth, the lobes of tlic scarious limb 

 alternating with 5 smaller ones. — Salt marshes, Florida, and northward. Aug. 

 and Sept. — Scape i°- 2° liigh. Leaves 3'- G' long. Flowers blue. 



2. PLUMBAGO, Tomn. Leadwort. 



Calyx tubular, .5-ribbcd, 5-toothed. Corolla salver-shaped, 5-lobcd. Stamens 

 5, inserted on the receptacle. Styles united. Stigmas linear. Utricle splitting 

 into valves from the base upward. — Herbs or shrubs, witli alternate entire 

 mostly clasping leaves, and blue or white flowers in terminal spikes. 



1. P. seandens, L. Shrubby ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, narrowed 

 into a clasping petiole ; calyx glandular-viscid, half as long as the tube of the 

 corolla; lobes of the corolla ovate, white; style smooth. — South Florida. — 

 Leaves 2' - 3' long. Spike elongated. 



Ordkr 87. PRIMFI^ACEiE. (Primrose Family.) 



Herbs, ■with simple alternate or opposite leaves, and regular flowers. — 

 Calyx 4 - 5-lobetl, persistent. Corolla 4 - o-lobed. Stamens 4 - 5, oppo- 

 site the lobes of the corolla, and inserted on its tube. Ovary free, or 

 partly adherent to the calyx, 1-eelled, many-ovuled. Placenta central, 

 globose. Style single. Capsule 1-celled, many-seeded, valvatc or circum- 

 scissile. Seeds anatropous or amphitropous. Embryo straight in fleshy 

 albumen. 



Synopsis. 



* Ovar}- free from the calyx. 

 +- Capsule opeDiDg by valve.s or teeth. 



1. IIOTTONI.\. Corolla salver-shaped. Leaves pectinately dissected. 



2. LYSIM.VCIIIA. Corolla wheel-shaped. Stems leafy. Leaves opposite, entire. 



3. DODECATIIEON. Corolla wheel-shaped. Stemless. Leaves radical. 



+- ^- Capsule opening transversely. 



4. AX.iG.^LLIS. Parts of the flower 5. Leaves opposite. Stamens bearded. 



5. CENTUXCULUS. Parts of the flower 4. Leaves alternate. Stamens beardless?. 



* * Ovary partly adherent to the calyx. 



6. S.VMOLUS. Stamens 5, with sterile filaments interposed. Capsule valvate. 



1. HOTTONIA, L. 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla salver-shaped, 5-lobed. Stamens 5. Style slender. 

 Capsule globose, at length splitting into 5 valves, which cohere at the base and 

 apex. Seeds fi.xed by the base, anatropous. — Aquatic perennial herbs, with 

 pectinately dissected leaves. Flowering stems mostly clustered, nearly leafless, 

 inflated, bearing at the joints whorls of small white flowers. 



1. H. iuflata, Ell. Flowering stems 3 -several in a terminal cluster, much 

 inflated ; upper stem-leaves crowded, with filiform divisions ; bracts entire. — 

 Ponds and ditches in the upper districts, Mississippi, and northward. Juno. 



