CARPET-WEED FAMILY _ 4CA 



the lobes (in ours) 5, ovate, unequal. Petals none. Stamens 1 to 3. Ovary 

 superior, 1-celled; style 2-cleft. Fruit a subglobose circumseissile capsule. 

 Seeds minute, smoothish, the funiculi persistent on the central placenta. — 

 Species 1, West Indies. (Greek kupsele, a beehive, which the capsule is thought 

 to resemble.) 



1. C. humifusa Turp. Stems much branched and matted, the plants 1 

 or 2 inches broad; leaves oblong or elliptical, obtuse, 2 to 6 lines long, the 

 petioles slender, nearly as long; stamens 3, rarely 1, inserted opposite the 

 sinuses. 



Immigrant from the West Indies, occurring sparingly in low lands and 

 rarely seen. 



Locs. — Lower San Joaquin River, Coiigdon; Aptos, Parry. Aug. 



Ref. — Cypselea HUMiru.SA Turp. Ann. Mus. Par. 7: 219, t. 12, fig. 5 (1806), type loc. 

 San Domingo. 



4. SESUVIUM L. 



Fleshy decumbent or prostrate herbs with opposite leaves and no stipules. 

 Flowers solitary in the axils, sessile or shortly pediceled. Calyx-tube turbi- 

 nate, the lobes 5, rose-pink inside, oblong, obtuse. Petals none. Stamens (in 

 ours) numerous, inserted on the calyx. Ovary 2 to 5-celled, with as many 

 separate styles. Capsule membranous, tlie upper part falling off as a lid. 

 Seeds smooth. Embryo annular. — Species 5, chiefly tropical and subtropical 

 coasts. (Latin Sesuvium, the country of the Sesuvii, a Gallic tribe mentioned 

 by Caesar, the application to this genus unknown.) 



1. S. sessile Pers. Lowlaxd Purslane. Stems prostrate, freely branch- 

 ing, 1 to 3 feet long; herbage finely warty; leaves broadly spatulate, i/j to 

 2 inches long ; flowers 4 to 5 lines long ; sepals ovate-lanceolate, commonly 

 acuminate, 3 lines long; ovary 2 or 3-celled, styles 2 or 3. 



River lowlands and alkaline fields in the San Joaquin Valley and south- 

 ward to Southern California. East to Kansas and south to Mexico. Brazil. 

 May-Aug. 



Locs. — San Joaquin Co., Jepson ; Knights Ferry, Sanford; Palo Verde Valley, Jepson 5271; 

 Blue Lake, Imperial Co., Abrams 3194; Ramona, T. Brandegee ; Bakersfield, Davy 1771; Owens 

 Lake, Jepson 5095; Bagdad, T. Brandegee ; Nigger Slough, Los Angeles, Braunton 574. 



Refs. — Sesuvium sessile Pers. Svn. 2: 39 (1807). S. portiilacastrum Brew. & Wjits. Bot. 

 Cal. 1: 251 (1876). 



5. TETRAGONIA L. Sea Spinach. 



Ours a succulent annual with alternate plane leaves. Flowers axillary, 

 greenish, apetalous. Calyx 4-lobed, its tube adnate to the 3 to 9-celled ovary. 

 Stamens 1 to many, perigj-nous. Fruit a hard or bony nut. indehisceut, en- 

 veloped by the calyx which bears several horn-like protuberances. — About 

 25 species, nearly all southern hemisphere and ciiiefiy South Africa. (Greek 

 tetra, 4, and gonu, knee or angle, alluding to the fruit.) 



1. T. expansa [Nlurr. New Zealand Spinach. Branches procumbent or 

 prostrate; leaves rhombie-ovate, entire, 1 to 2y2 inches long, abruptly con- 

 tracted at base to a broad petiole, the surface covered with crystalline papillae ; 

 flowers subsessile. 1 to 3 in each axil ; calyx-lobes widely spreading, yellowish 

 within ; fruit 4-horned. 4 to 6 lines long. 



Native of Australasia, cultivated in California for use as summer greens and 

 sparingly spontaneous on sea-beaches of the middle Californian coast. 



Locs. — Pacific Grove, Heller 6275; Marin and Alameda cos. (Greene, Fl. Fr. 240); Fort 

 Point and s. San Francisco (Zoe, 2: 352). 



Refs. — Tetrago.\ia expansa Murr. in Comm. Goetting, 6: 13, t. 5 (1783); Pax in Engler 

 & Prantl, Nat. Pflzfam. Sib; 45, fig. 18 (1889). 



