LYTHRACE^. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 185 



(Ammannia humilis, .l//c7ij-.) — Low or wet ground, Mass. to Fla., west to 

 Ind., Kau., and Tex. — With Amraannia-like habit, an exception in the genus. 



3. AMMANNIA, Houston. 



Flowers in 3 - many-flowered axillary cymes. Calyx globular or Viell-shaped, 

 4-angled, 4-toothed, usually with a little horn-shaped appendage at each sinus. 

 Tetals 4 (purplish), small and deciduous, sometimes wanting. Stamens 4-8. 

 Capsule globular, 2 -4-celled, bursting irregularly. — Low and inconspicuous 

 smooth herbs, Avith opposite narrow leaves, and small flowers in their axils, 

 ])roduced all summer. (Named after Pan! Ammann, a German botanist ante- 

 rior to Linnseus.) 



1. A. COCCinea, Rottl). Leaves linear-lanceolate (2-3' long), with a 

 broad auricled sessile base ; cymes subsessile, dense ; petals purplish ; stamens 

 more or less exserted; style usually slender; capsule included. (A. latifolia, 

 Gray, Manual, not L.) — N. J. to Fla., west to S. Ind., Kan., and Tex. Tlie 

 style varies much in length, sometimes in the same specimen. Apparently 

 the more developed form of the southern A. latifolia, Linn., which, as limited 

 by Koehue, has apetalous flowers, with included stamens and short style. 



4. LYTHRUM, L. Loosestrife. 



Calyx cylindrical, striate, 5- 7-toothed, with as many little processes in the 

 sinuses. Petals .5 - 7. Stamens as many as the petals or twice the number, 

 inserted low down on the calyx, commonly nearly equal. Capsule oblong, 2- 

 celled. — Slender hei'bs, with opposite or scattered mostly sessile leaves, and 

 purple (rarely white) flowers; produced in summer, (Name from KvOpou, 

 blood ; perhaps from the styptic properties of some species.) 



* Stamois and petals 5 - 7 ; Jloicers small, solitari/ and nearl/i sessile in the axils 



of the mostlij scattered upper leaves; proper calyx-teeth often shorter than the 

 intermediate processes ; plants smooth. 



1 . L. Hyssopifolia, L. Low annual (6 - 10' high), pale ; leaves oblong- 

 iinear, obtuse, longer than the inconspicuous flowers ; petals pale-purple ; sta- 

 mens usually 4-6, included. — Marshes, near the coast, Maine to N. J. (Eu.) 



2. L. lineare, L. Stem slender and tall (3-4° high), Inishy at top, ivith 

 2 margined angles ; leaves linear, chiefly opposite ; petals whitish ; flowers with 

 6 included stamens and a short style, or the stamens exserted and style short ; 

 ovary on a thick short stalk; no fleshy hypogynons ring. — Brackish marshes, 

 N. J. to Fla. and Tex. 



3. L. alatum, Pursh. Tall and wand-like perennial ; branches with ma?-- 

 giued angles; leaves oJ>long-ovate to linear-lanceolate, acute, ivith a cordate or 

 rounded base, the upper mostly alternate ; calyx 2-4" long ; petals rather large, 

 deep-purple; stamens of the short-styled flowers exserted; fleshy hypogynons 

 ring pronunent. — Ont. to Minn., south to Ga., Ark., and Col. ; also near Boston. 



* * Stamens 12 {rarely 8 or 10), ticice the number of the petals, 6 longer and 6 



shorter ; floivers large, crowded and whorled in an interrupted spike. 



Ij. SalicXria, L. (Spiked Loosestrife.) More or less downy and tall ; 

 leaves lanceolate, heart-shaped at base, sometimes whorled in threes ; flowers 

 purple, trimorphous in the relative lengths of the stamens and style. — ^Yet 

 meadows, X. Scotia to Del. (Nat. from Eu.) 



