132 
LYTHRACEiE. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 
Order 40. LYTHRACEJ3. (Loosestrife Family.) 
Herbs, with mostly opposite entire leaves, no stipules, the 
calyx inclosing, but free from, the 1 - 4 -celled many-seeded 
ovary and membranous pod, and bearing the 4-7 decidu¬ 
ous petals and 4-14 stamens on its throat; the latter low¬ 
er down . Style 1 : stigma capitate, or rarely %-lobed. 
Flowers rarely irregular, axillary or whorled. Petals some¬ 
times wanting. Pod often 1-celled by the early breaking 
away of the thin partitions: placentae in the axis. Seeds 
anatropous, without albumen. — Branches usually 4-sided. 
Synopsis. 
* Flowers regular, or very nearly so. 
1. Ammannia. Calyx short, 4-angled, not striate. Stamens 4. 
2. Lythrum. Calyx cylindrical, striate. Stamens 5-14, nearly equa 
3. Decodon. Calyx short, bell-form. Stamens 10, the 5 opposite 
the petals shorter or later. 
* * Flowers irregular: petals unequal. 
4. Cuphea. Calyx spurred or gibbous at the base. Stamens 12. 
1. AMMANNIA, Houston. Ammannia. 
Calyx globular or bell-shaped, 4-angled, 4-toothed, with a little 
horn-shaped appendage at each sinus. Petals 4 (purplish), small 
and deciduous, sometimes wanting. Stamens 4, short. P°d 
globular, 4-celled. — Low and inconspicuous smooth herbs, with 
opposite narrow leaves, and small greenish flowers in their axils* 
(Named after Ammann , a Russian botanist anterior to Linn a? us.) 
1. A. tftlimilis, Michx. Leaves lanceolate or linear-oblonj, 
tapering into a slight petiole, or the base somewhat arrow-shape , 
flowers solitary or 3 together in the axils of the leaves, sessile , sty 1 ® 
very short. (Also A. ramosior, Michx. Isnardia adscendens, H • 
in Eat.) — Wet places near the coast, Connecticut southward, an * 
Michigan. Aug. — Stems 3' - 8' high. 
2. LYTHRUM, L. Loosestrife. 
Calyx cylindrical, striate, 4 - 7-toothed, with as many little pio 
cesses in the sinuses. Petals 4-7. Stamens as many as 
petals or twice the number, inserted low down on the calyx, near 
ly equal. Pod oblong, 2-celled. — Slender herbs, with opposi* e 
