426 NYCTAGINACE^. (POUR-o'CLOCK FAMILY.) 



Embryo monocotyledonous. — Low herbs, with thick opposite petioled une- 

 qual leaves, axillary or terminal peduncles, and showy flowers in solitary 

 heads. (Name from a^pos, graceful.) 



1. A. fragrans, Nutt. More or less viscid-pubescent, from a perennial 

 root; leaves oblong or ovate, truncate or cuueate at base; involucre conspic- 

 uous, of broad ovate white and scarious bracts; flowers white, fragrant, 4-10" 

 long ; fruit coriaceous, obpyramidal, with narrow undulate coarsely reticulated 

 Avings. — From W. Iowa to Utah and N. Mex. 



Ordkr 85. ILLECEBRACE^E. (Knotwort Family.) 



Herbs, ivith mostly opposite and entire leaves, scarious stipules (except 

 in Sclerantlius), a A-b-toothed or -parted herbaceous or coriaceous persis- 

 tent calyx, no petals, stamens borne on the ccdijx, as many as the lobes and 

 opposite them or feiver, styles 2 a7id often united, and fruit a 1-seeded 

 utricle. Seed upon a basal funicle, the embryo (in ours) surrounding 

 the mealy albumen. — Small diffuse or tufted herbs, with small greenish 

 or whitish flow^ers in clusters or dichotomous cymes. 



1. Anycliia. Stamens on the base of the 5-parted awnless calyx. Styles hardly any. 



2. Paronychia. Stamens on the base of the 5-parted calyx ; the sepals hooded at the 



summit and bristle-pointed. Style 1, 2-cleft at the top. 



3. Sclerantlius. Stamens borne on the throat of the indurated j-tleft and pointless calyx. 



Styles 2. Stipules none. 



1. ANYCHIA, Michx. Forked Chickweed. 



Sepals .5, scarcely concave, indistinctly mucronate on the back, greenish. 

 Stamens 2-3, rarely 5. Stigmas 2, sessile. Utricle larger than the calyx. 

 Radicle turned downward. — Small, many times forked annuals, with small 

 stipules, and minute flowers in the forks, produced all summer. (Same deri- 

 vation as tlie r.ext genus.) 



1. A. dicliotonia, -Michx. More or less piibescenf, short-jointed, low and 

 spreading ; leaves somewhat petioled, mostly very narrowly lanceolate or ob- 

 lanceolate ; flowers nearly sessile and somewhat clustered. — Mostly in open 

 places, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Minn, and Ark. 



2. A. capillacea, DC. Smooth, longer-jointed, slender and erect; leaves 

 thinner, broader and longer (5-15" \oug) ; flowers more stalked and diffuse. 

 (A. dichotoma, var. capillacea, Torr.) — Dry Avoodlands, same range as the 

 last, but more abundant northward. 



2. PARONYCHIA, Tourn. Whitlow-wort. 



Sepals 5, linear or oblong, concave, awned at the apex. Petals (or staini- 

 nodia) bristle-form, or minute teeth, or none. Stamens 5. Style 2-cleft at 

 the apex. I'tricle enclosed in the calyx. Kadicle ascending. — Tufted herbs 

 (ours perennial), with dry and silvery stipules, and clustered flowers. (Greek 

 name for a whitlow, and for a plant thought to cure it.) 



1. P. argyrocoma, Nutt. Forming broad tufts, branched, s/nTar/^'n^ ; 

 leaves linear {^' long) ; flowers densely clustered, surrounded by conspicuous 

 large sUvery bracts; calyx hairy, short-awned ; petals mere teeth between the 



