66 CARYOPHYLLACEJE. (PINK FAMILY.) 
Suborder V. MOLLUGINEiE. Indian Chickweeds. 
15. BIOLLtoO, L. Indian Chickweed. 
Sepals 5. Petals none. Stamens 3 -5, hypogynous, opposite 
the sepals. Styles 3, short. Pod 3-celled, 3-valved, locnlicidal, 
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.) 
1. M. verticellata, L. (Carpet-weed.) Prostrate, forming 
patches ; leaves spatulate, clustered in whorls at the joints, where the 
1-flowered pedicels form a sort of sessile umbels ; stamens usually 3. 
— Sandy river-banks, and cultivated grounds. June - Sept. 
Order 21. PORTULACACEiE. (Purslane Family.) 
Herbs , with succulent leaves , and regular but unsymmetri - 
cal flowers; viz., sepals fewer than the petals; the stamens 
opposite the petals or more numerous : otherwise nearly as 
Chickweeds. —Sepals 2. Petals 5. Stamens mostly 5- 
20. Styles 3-6, united below, stigmatic along the inside. 
Pod 1-celled, with few or many campylotropous seeds rising 
on slender stalks from the base, or on a central placenta. 
Embryo curved around mealy albumen.— Insipid herbs, 
with opposite or alternate entire leaves. Corolla opening 
only in sunshine, ephemeral, then shrivelling. 
Synopsis. 
* Base of the calyx cohering with the base of the ovary : perigynous. 
1. Portulaca. Stamens 10 — 20. Pod opening bv a lid. 
* * Calyx free : petals hypogynous. Pod 3-valved. 
2 Talinum. Stamens about 20. Sepals deciduous. Pod many- 
seeded. 
3. Claytonia. Stamens 5. Sepals persistent. Pod few-seeded. 
!• PORTULACA, Toum. Purslane. 
Sepals united and cohering with the ovary below. Stamens 
8-20. Style mostly 5-cleft. Pod globular, many-seeded, open¬ 
ing transversely, the upper part (with the upper part of the calyx) 
separating like a lid. — Fleshy annuals, with scattered leaves, 
