FOUR-O’CLOCK FAMILY. 597 
equal, inserted on the tube of the perianth; anthers linear-oblong, included. Style filiform. 
Fruit dry, 1-5-winged, the wings broad or narrow, reticulate-veined. Seed cylindric, smooth, 
shining. [Name from the Greek, graceful. ] 
About 15 species, all American. Besides the following, some 1o others occur in western North 
America. 
Perennial; flowers white; wings of the fruit 1’’ broad or less. 1. A. fragrans. 
Annual; flowers pink; wings thin, 4’’-7'’ broad, very conspicuous. 2, A. micrantha. 
1. Abronia fragrans Nutt. White 
Abronia. (Fig. 1422.) 
Abronia fragrans Nutt.; Hook. Kew Journ. Bot. 5: 
261. 1853. 
Perennial, viscid-pubescent, stem erect or as- 
cending, usually much branched, 1°-2° high. 
Leaves oval, ovate or oblong-elliptic, petioled, 
obtuse at the apex, cuneate, truncate or rounded 
at the base, 1/-214’ long; bracts of the involucre 
5 or 6, large, ovate or obovate, white; flowers 
white, very numerous in the involucres, 5//-10’’ 
long, fragrant, opening at night; fruit 4//-5// 
high, coriaceous with 5 or sometimes fewer, un- 
dulate coarsely reticulated wings about 1// wide, 
which do not close over its summit. 
In dry soil, lowa to Nebraskaand Montana, south 
to Texas and Mexico. June-Aug. 
2. Abronia micrantha. (Torr. ) Chois. 
Pink Abronia. (Fig. 1423.) 
Tripleridium micranthum ‘Torr. Frem. Rep. 96. 
1845. 
Abronia micrantha Chois. in DC. Prodr. 13: Part 
2, 436. 1849. 
Abronia Cycloptera A. Gray, Am. Journ. Sci. (II.) 
15: 319. 1853. 
Annual, glabrous below, more or less glandu- 
lar-pubescent above, stem ascending, branched, 
1°-2° high. Leaves similar to those of the pre- 
ceding species in size and outline; involucral 
bracts ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or acumi- 
nate; flowers several or numerous, about 9// 
long, bright pink; calyx-limb 4//-8’’ broad; 
fruit nearly 1/ high, its 2-4 membranous wings 
4’’-7’’ broad, entire-margined, shining, very 
conspicuous, glabrous, united over the body of 
the fruit, beautifully reticulate-veined. 
In dry soil, western Nebraska to Wyoming and 
Nevada, south to Texas and New Mexico. June—Aug. 
Family 19. AIZOACEAE A. Br.; Aschers. Fl. Brand. 60. 1864. 
CARPET-WEED FAMILY. 
Herbs, rarely somewhat woody, mostly prostrate and branching, with (in 
our species) opposite or verticillate leaves and solitary cymose or glomerate per- 
fect, small regular flowers. Stipules none or scarious, or the petiole-bases 
dilated. Calyx 4-5-cleft or 4-5-parted. Petals small or none in our species. 
Stamens perigynous, equal in number to the sepals, fewer, or more numerous. 
Ovary usually free from the calyx, 3-5-celled, and ovules numerous in each cell 
in our species. Fruit a capsule with loculicidal or cireumscissile dehiscence. 
Seeds amphitropous; seed-coat crustaceous or membranous; endosperm scanty or 
copious; embryo slender, curved. 
22 genera and about 500 species, mostly of warm regions, a few in the temperate zones. 
Fleshy, sea-coast herbs; leaves opposite; capsule circumscissile. 1. Sesuvium, 
Not fleshy; leaves verticillate; capsule 3-valved. 2. Mollugo. 
