Mollugo, FICOIDE^. 257 



normally 2, centrally situated, but (in N. American species) by abortion single and at length 

 excentric. Capsule short-cylindric or turbinate, few(l-5)-seeded, tardily circumscissile, the 

 upper portion thickened, coreaceous or suberose, with mostly 2 rounded marginal crests partly 

 or almost completely surrounding the concave very oblique summit. 



* * Ovary 3-5-celled : stipules none. 



5. SESUVIUM. Calyx 5-cleft to below the middle ; oblong segments obtuse or obtusish 

 but commonly cornute dorsally beneath the apex, colored within. Stamens 5 and alternate 

 with the calyx-lobes or numerous and indefinite, perigyuous, sometimes slightly united into 

 phalanges. Ovary free from the calyx, many-ovuled; styles 3 (to 5), filiform, free to the 

 base. Capsule membranaceous, 3 (-5 )-celled ; seeds several to many in each cell. 



Tribe III. MESEMBRYANTHE^. Calyx-tube partially or wholly adnate to the 

 ovary. 



* Petals : fruit indehiscent. 



6. TETRAGONIA. Calyx-tube at length enveloping and adnate to the ovary, mostly 

 4-lobed or -toothed, fleshy; lobes short, obtuse, erect and connivent after anthesis. Stamens 



1 to X, sometimes more or less united at the base into phalanges, perigynous : ovary half 

 inferior, at length wholly so, with 3 to 9 cells and as many short distinct styles ; cells uui- 

 ovulate. Fruit a somewhat 4(-6)-horned nut; seeds solitary, pendent in the indehiscent 

 cells, pyriform, estrophiolate; embryo horse-shoe shaped. 



* * Petals numerous : fruit a capsule, loculicidally dehiscent at the summit. 



7. MESEMBRYANTHEMUM. Calyx normally 5-parted or 5-toothed, unequal. Petals 

 cc, linear, sometimes in several series, inserted together with the numerous and indefinite 

 stamens upon the tube of the calyx. Ovary 5 (-cc) -celled ; styles as many as the cells of 

 the ovary, free or nearly so. Fruit stellate, with distinct epicarp and endocarp, dehiscing 

 under the influence of moisture ; seeds numerous, minute. 



1. MOLLUGO, L. Indian Chick weed. (Name derived from mollis, 

 soft, used by Pliny for some unidentified plant, and 'by the herbalists for Galium 

 Mollugo, from which it was by Linn^us transferred to the present genus, on 

 account, perhaps, of the superficial similarity of leaf-arrangement.) — Gen. 

 no. 839 ; Gray, Gen. 111. ii. 13, t. 101 ; Benth. & Hook. Gen. i. 857 (excl. syn. 

 Glinus) ; Pax in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. iii. Ab. lb, 39. Mollugo, subg. 

 Mollugo, Fenzl, Ann. Wien. Mus. i. 375-384. Lampetia & Nemallosis, Raf. Fl. 

 Tellur. iii. 34. — Glabrous profusely branched annuals with rosulate or pseudo- 

 verticillate leaves and small apetalous slender-pedicelled flowers. 



* Seeds 3-5-ribbed parallel to the median dorsal line, and often minutely and transversely 

 rugose between the ribs : cauline leaves spatulate to lance-oblong or rarely linear : pros- 

 trate or ascending. 



M. verticillata, L. (Carpet-weed.) Slender terete stems radiating, dichotomously 

 branched : leaves 3 to 6 at each node, unequal, half inch to inch in length, the larger ones 2 

 to 4 lines in breadth, obtuse or acutish at the apex, gradually narrowed at the base : flowers 



2 to 5 from each node, slender-pedicelled, subtended by foliaceous liracts : sepals elliptic- 

 oblong, obtuse, 3-nerved, not reticulated : stamens 3 (to 4) : capsule short-oblong. — Spec. i. 

 89 ; Fenzl, 1. c. 376 ; Gray, 1. c. 14; Rohrb. in Mart. Fl. Bras. xiv. pt. 2, 240-243 (inch var. 

 scrobiculata), t. 5.5, f. 2 ; Meehan, Bull. Torr. Club, xiv. 218. it/, arenaria, HBK. Nov. Gen. 

 & Spec. vi. 20. — Lower Canada to Florida and across the continent, common especially upon 

 bare ground of paths, &c. (Mex., W. Ind., Trop. Amer., " Trop. Afr.") 



* * Seeds finely reticulated : cauline leaves very narrow, linear : habit ascending or sub- 

 erect : southwestern. 



M. Cerviana, Seringe. Very slender : 2 to 8 inches high, much branched : stems and 

 branches filiform, terete : leaves glaucous ; the basal spatulate, forming a more or less 

 persistent rosette ; the uppermost reduced to minute bracts : flowers small, the lower verticil- 



17 



