150 XIV. CARYOPHYLLACEiE. [Drymariu. 



3 to 10 insert with the petals ; filaments filiform ; anthers bilocular. 

 Ovary free i-celled (rarely 2- to 5-celled). Styles 2 to 5. Ovules 

 2 to many, from base of ovary or on a central column. Capsule 

 membranous or crustaceous, splitting into as many valves as 

 styles (or with apical teeth) . Seeds few or many reniform globose 

 or obovoid. Species 1000, whole world, very rare in tropics. 



1. DRYMARIA, Willd. 



Diffuse herbs. Leaves flat. Flowers pedicelled small in 

 dichotomous cymes terminal (or axillary). Sepals 5, herbaceous 

 edge scarious. Petals 5, 2- to 6-cleft. Stamens 5 or fewer, peri- 

 gynous. Ovary i-celled; ovules many. Styles 3. Capsule 3- 

 valved. Species about 40, i in tropical Asia and Africa, i 

 Australian, the rest American. 



(i) D. cordata Willd. Roem and Schidtes, Syst. Veg. v. 406. 



A branching diffuse herb, glabrous or nearly so, about i ft. 

 tall. Leaves in distant pairs thin ovate rounded, base cuneate, 

 •5 in. long and as wide (or larger) ; petioles very short. Flowers 

 small in compound cymes terminal. Bracts small ovate. Sepals 5 

 oblong acute striate green, edges white scarious, -i in. long. Petals 5 

 shorter bifid with lanceolate lobes, white. Stamens shorter slender. 

 Styles 3. Ovary globose; ovules 3 or more. Capsule ovoid- 

 trigonous 3-valved. Seeds many orbicular muricate. Hah. Road- 

 sides or waste ground at 2500 ft. altitude. An alien. Selangor, 

 Semangkok Pass. Abundant in January 192 1. I never saw it 

 here before. Distrib. India, Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, Papua, 

 tropical Africa. 



Order XV. PORTULACACE^. 



Herbs rarely shrubby. Leaves opposite or alternate entire, 

 nodes with scarious or hairy appendages. Sepals 2 imbricate. 

 Petals 4 or 5 fugacious hypogynous or perigynous. Stamens 4 to 

 many; filaments slender; anthers 2-celled. Ovary free or half 

 inferior, i-celled; ovules 2 or many. Style 2- to 8-fid. Capsule 

 transversely or by 2 or 3 valves, dehiscent. Seeds i or many. 

 Cosmopolitan chiefly American, about 125 species. 



1. PORTULACA, L. 



Diffuse succulent herbs; nodal appendages scaly or hairy. 

 Flowers terminal surrounded by a whorl of leaves. Sepals connate 

 below, free part deciduous. Petals 4 to 6. Ovary half-inferior. 

 Style 3- to 8-fid. Ovules many. Capsule crustaceous, dehiscing 

 transversely. Seeds many, reniform. Tropical regions, chiefly 

 American, 2 cosmopolitan weeds. 



