PORTULACACEiE. 119 



drils 5 — 6 inches long. Flowers axillary, yellow, the sterile in small racemes, 

 the fertile solitary. Small Creeping Cucumber. 



Order L. PASSIFLORACE^.— Passionworts. 



Sepals 5, combined in a tube of variable length which is 

 lined by filamentous processes. Petals 5, arising from the 

 throat of the calyx, sometimes wanting. Stamens 5, monadel- 

 phofts, rarely indefinite. Ovary seated on a long stalk, 1 -celled ; 

 styles 3, clavate ; stigma dilated. Fruit with 3 polyspermous 

 placentae, sometimes 3-valved. Seeds with a brittle sculptured 

 testa ; albumen fleshy. — Herbaceous plants or shrubs, usually 

 climbing. Leaves alternate, with leafy stipules. Flowers ax- 

 illary or terminal. 



PASSIFLORA. jLmw.— Passion Flower. 

 (Altered by Linnaeus from. Jlos passionis, or passionflower.) 



Calyx 5-parted, colored, with the tube very short. Petals 

 5, inserted into the calyx, or none. Stamens 5, monadelphous. 

 Crown of many filiform rays. Berry often pulpy, rarely sub- 

 membranaceous, pedicelled. 



1. P. lulea Linn.: leaves cordate, 3-lobed, obtuse, nearly smooth; peti- 

 oles without glands ; peduncles axillary, in pairs ; petals much longer than 

 the calyx. 



Banks of streams. Penn. to Flor. W. to Miss. Jmie, July. 11-. — Stem climb- 

 ing, slender, 3 — 10 feet long. Flowers small, greenish-yellow. Fruit dark pur- 

 ple. Yellow Passion Flower. 



2.' P. incarnata Linn. : leaves smooth, subcuneate at base, 5-nerved, 

 deeply 3-cleft ; lobes ovate-lanceolate, mostly acuminate ; petioles with 2 

 glands ; involucre 3-leaved ; leafets lanceolate, glandular-serrate ; ovary 

 villous. 



Banks of streams. Del. to Flor. W. to Miss. Sept. %. — Stem long, climb- 

 ing. FZowers large, on long pedicels. PetaZs oval-oblong, white. Croujn pur- 

 ple. Fruit oval, pale yellow when ripe, eatable. 



Flesh-colored Passion Flower. 



Order LI. PORTULACACE^.— Purslanes. 



Sepals 3, cohering by the base. Petals generally 5. Sta- 

 mens inserted irregularly into the calyx or hypogynous, varia- 

 ble in number. Ovary 1 -celled ; style 1 or more ; stigmas 

 several. Capsule 1 -celled. Seeds attached to a central pla- 

 centa ; albumen mealy. — Succulent shrubs or herbs. Leaves 

 mostly alternate, with stipules. Flowers usually ephemeral. 



