198 FICOIDE^. 



few , larger spines 1-4, cruciate, ivith 4-6 smaller white radiating ones below; 

 flowers yellow — Minn, to Iowa and Kan., and westward. 



Order 47. FICOIDE^E. 



A miscellaneous group, chiejiy ofjleshy or succulent plants, with moMly 

 opposite Leaves and no stipules. Differing from Caryophyllaceae and For- 

 tulacaceae by having the ovary and capsule 2 - several-celled, and the 

 stamens and petals sometimes numerous, as in Cactacege (but the latter 

 wanting in most of the genera) , seeds, as in all these orders, with the 

 slender embryo curved about mealy albumen. Our genera are apetalous 

 and with the calyx free from the ovar}-. 



1 Sesuviuin. Calyx-lobes 5, petaloid. Stamens 5 -60. Capsule circumscissilc. Succulent. 

 2. Mollugo. Sepals 5. Stamens 3 or 5. Capsule 3-valved. Not succulent. 



1. SE S tr VI UM, L. Sea PuRSLAXE. 



Calyx 5-parted, purpliBh inside, persistent, free. I*etals none. Stamens 5 - 

 60, inserted on the calyx. Styles 3 - .5, separate. Pod 3 - 5-celled, many-seeded, 

 circumscissile, the upper part falling off as a lid. — Usually prostrate maritime 

 herbs, with succulent stems, opposite leaves, and axillary or terminal flowers. 

 (An unexplained name.) 



1. S, pentandrum, Ell. Annual, procumbent or sometimes erect; 

 leaves oblong- to obovate-spatulate, obtuse ; flowers sessile ; stamens 5. (S. 

 Portulacastrum, Gray, Manual, not L.) — Sea-coast, N. J. to Fla. 



2. MOLLUGO, L. Ixdiax-Chickaveed. 



Sepals 5, white inside. Stamens hypogynous, 5 and alternate with the sepals^ 

 or 3 and alternate with the 3 cells of the ovary. Stigmas 3. Capsule 3-celled^ 

 3-valved, loculicidal, the partitions breaking away from the many-seeded axis. 

 — Low homely annuals, much branched ; the stipules obsolete. (An old Latin 

 name for some soft plant.) 



M. verticillXta, L. (Carpet-weed.) Prostrate, forming patches ; 

 leaves spatulate, clustered in whorls at the joints, where the 1-flowered pedicels 

 form a sort of sessile umbel ; stamens usually 3. — Sandy river-banks, and cul- 

 tivated grounds. June - Sept. (An immigrant from farther south.) 



Order 48. UMBELLIFER^^E. (Parsley Family.) 



Herbs, with smalt flowers in umbels (or rarely iii heads^, the calyx entirely 

 adhering to the 2-celled and 2-ovuled ovary, the 5 petals and 5 stamens in- 

 serted on the disk that crowns tlie ovary and surrounds the base of the 2 

 styles. Fruit consisting of 2 seed-like dry carpels. Limb of the calyx 

 obsolete, or a mere 5-toothed border. Petals either imbricated in the bud 

 or valvate with the point inflexed. The two carpels (called mericarps) 

 cohering by their inner face (the commissure^, when ripe separating from 

 each other and usually suspended from the summit of a slender prolon- 

 gation of the axis {carpophore) ; each carpel marked lengthwise with 5 

 nrimary ribs, and often with 4 intermediate (secondary) ones ; in the m/er- 



