MAY5 1950 Beanest = Eleanor SOS Are ce 
Pe VSD RLORA. 
WOOL TT: 
Family 20. PORTULACACEAE Reichenb. Consp. 161. 1828. 
PURSLANE FAMILY. 
Herbs, generally fleshy or succulent, rarely somewhat woody, with alternate 
or opposite leaves, and regular perfect but unsymmetrical flowers. Sepals com- 
monly 2 (rarely 5). Petals 4 or 5, rarely more, hypogynous, entire or emar- 
ginate, imbricated. Stamens hypogynous, equal in number to the petals or 
fewer, rarely more; filaments filiform; anthers 2-celled, longitudinally dehis- 
cent. Ovary 1-celled; style 2—3-cleft or 2—3-divided, the divisions stigmatic 
on the inner side; ovules 2-~, amphitropous. Capsule membranous or crusta- 
ceous, circumscissile, or dehiscent by 3 valves. Seeds 2-0, reniform-globose 
or compressed; embryo curved. 
About 150 species, mostly natives of America. 
Calyx free from the ovary; capsule 3-valved. 
Seeds numerous; stamens 5-%. 
Seeds not more than 6; stamens 2-5. 
Petals distinct or very nearly so, and stamens 5 in our species. 2. Claylonta. 
Petals united into a short tube at the base; stamens 2 or 3. 3. Montia. 
Calyx partly adnate to the ovary; capsule circumscissile. 4. Portulaca. 
1. TALINUM Adans. Fam. Pl. 2: 245. 1763. 
Fleshy glabrous erect or ascending, perennial or annual herbs, with scapose or leafy 
stems, alternate terete or flat exstipulate leaves (terete and clustered at the base in the fol- 
lowing species), and mainly cymose racemose or panicled flowers. Sepals 2, ovate. Petals 
5, hypogynous, fugacious. Stamens as many as or more numerous than the petals and ad- 
herent to their bases. Ovary many-ovuled; style 3-lobed or 3-cleft. Capsule ovoid, oval or 
globose, 3-valved. Seeds numerous, borne on a central globose placenta. [Aboriginal 
name of a Senegal species. ] 
A genus of about 12 species, all but 1 or 2 natives of America. In addition to the following, 
about 4 others occur in the western and southwestern United States. 
Flowers 5'’-8'’ broad; sepals deciduous. 
Stamens 10-30; capsule globose. 1. J. terettfolium. 
Stamens only 5; capsule oval. 2. T. parvifiorum. 
3 
| 
1. Talinum. 
Flowers 10''-15'' broad; sepals persistent. . T. calycinum. 
1. Talinum teretifolium Pursh. Fame- 
flower. (Fig. 1426.) 
Talinum teretifolium Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 365. 1814. 
Perennial, erect, 4/-12’ high, leafy at the base. 
Leaves linear, terete, %4/-2’ long, about 1’ wide, the 
base broadened and prolonged posteriorly; scape-like 
peduncles 1-5, terminal, branched, leafless, slender, 
bracted at the nodes, 3/-6’ long; cymes terminal, loose, 
the branches ascending or divaricate; flowers pink, 6’”— 
8’’ broad, opening for a day; sepals membranous, 
deciduous, ovate, obtuse, 2’’ long, about half the length 
of the petals; stamens 10-30; style as long as the sta- 
mens ; capsule globose, 2’’ in diameter; bracts of the 
cyme ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 1/’ long, prolonged 
posteriorly. 
On dry rocks, Chester county, Pa., to Minnesota, south 
to Georgia and Texas. Ascends to 3800 ft. in North Caro- 
lina. May-Aug. 
LIBRARN, 
NEW YORR 
BOTANICFEL 
GARDEN 
