l-'is Aizoaceae 



Family 27. AIZOACEAE. Carpet-weed Family. 



Ours herbs very succulent, except Mollugo, with op- 

 posite or verticillate leaves. Calyx 5-lobed, herbaceous 

 or petaloid, the tube adnate or free from the ovary. 

 Petals numerous or wanting. Stamens 3-many, with 

 slender filaments inserted on the calyx-tube. Styles 

 3-20. Fruit a capsule, 3— 20-celled, dehiscence various. 

 Seeds numerous, minute ; embryo annular : endosperm 

 scanty or copious. 



Ovary free from the calyx; petals none. 



Sepals 5; capsule 3-valved; leaves not succulent. 



1. Mollugo. 

 Calyx-lobes 5, petaloid; capsule circumscissile; succulent. 



2. Sesdvium. 

 Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary; petals and stamens numerous. 



3. MESEMBKIANTHEMC.M. 



1. MOLLUGO L. Carpet-weed. 



Annuals, ours prostrate, glabrous, much-branched, with 

 verticillate stipulate leaves. Stipules scarious, mem- 

 branous, deciduous. Flowers axillary on long slender 

 pedicels. Calyx 5-parted, persistent; sepals Bcarious- 

 margined. Petals none. Stamens 3—5. Ovary ovoid 

 or globose, 3-celled. Capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, loculici- 

 dally dehiscent. 



1. M. verticillata L. Stem much branched, prostrate, 10-20 

 cm. long, glabrous, not succulent ; leaves in whorls of 5's or (>'s T 

 spatulate to linear-lanceolate, entire, obtuse, 10-L'"> nun. long, 

 narrowed to a short petiole; flowers L.5-2 nun. broad; sepals 

 oblong, slightly shorter than the ovoid capsule; capsule rough- 

 ened by the projecting seed-; seeds minute, smooth and shining 



or slightly granular. 



Growing m damp places near borders of pools. < '•;iv\ an/a, Davidson; 

 Laguna, Orange County. 



L\ SESUVIUM L. Ska PuRSLANB. 



Stems prostrate or decumbent, fleshy with opposite ex- 

 stipulate leaves. Flowers solitary in the axils, sessile or 



