Portulaca. PORTULACACEiE. 263 



4. LEWISIA. Sepals 2 to 8, often glandular-denticulate. Petals 3 to 16. Anthers oblong 

 to linear. Style-branches 3 to 8, slender. Capsule globose-ovate, thin-chartaceous ; seeds 

 several to many, lenticular, mostly smooth and shining. 



= = Style-branches 3 : capsule 3-valved from the apex : sepals 2. 



5. CALANDRINIA. Petals 3 to 7. Stamens (rarely 3) 5 to 12, seldom of the same 

 number as the petals. Seeds usually numerous, small, black, finely granulated. Fleshy 

 spreading annuals with alternate leaves. 



6. CLAYTONIA. Petals definitely 5, free, equal, conspicuous. Stamens as many. Ovules 

 few, about 6. Seeds dark and shining. Perennials from thick roots or corms. Cauline 

 leaves opposite. 



7. MONTIA. Petals 5 or fewer, usually .somewhat unequal, and sometimes more or less 

 coherent or connate at the base. Stamens 3 to 5. Ovules very few, mostly 3. Seeds 2 or 3. 

 = ==== Gyncecium dimerous, i. e. stigmas and valves only 2 : sepals orbiculate, wholly 



or partly scarious and accrescent, mostly plane and as it were bivalvular in fruit : leaves 

 all alternate : capsule membranaceous ; seeds reniform-lenticular, not strophiolate : anthesis 

 ephemeral : inflorescence usually secund. 



8. SPRAGUEA. Sepals wholly scarious (or with mere greenish centre), emarginate at 

 apex and base, equal. Petals 4, obovate. Stamens 3, twice the length of the petals ; fila- 

 ments filiform ; anthers linear-oblong. Style very long, filiform ; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule 

 globose-ovate, few-seeded. 



9. CALYPTRIDIUM. Sepals scarious-margined or largely scarious, usually unequal. 

 Petals 2 to 4, small (distinct), obovate. Stamens 1, 2, or 3, sTiorter than the petals; fila- 

 ments subulate ; anthers oval or oblong. Style short or hardly any; stigmas 2. Capsule 

 linear to oval, 6-24-seeded. 



1. PORTULACA, Tourn. Purslane. (Latin name of Purslane, of 

 uncertain derivation.) — Low herbs, fleshy, with leaves alternate or partly oppo- 

 site, and stipules scarious or none, or reduced to hairy tufts ; the flowers terminal 

 and sessile, expanding in direct sunshine before mid-day, soon closing, and the 

 petals by evening colliquescent. Pyxis membranaceous to coriaceous. — Inst. 

 236, t. 118 ; L. Gen. no. 341 ; Gray, Gen. 111. i. t. 99.^ 



* Leaves flat, naked in the axils or very nearly so : very glabrous annuals, 

 -t— Stems terete : calyx-lobes dorsally carinate : no calycine border around the mouth of the 

 persistent part of the dehiscent capsule; lid high-conical and with acute tip: petals 

 yellow, emarginate. 



P. oleracea, L. (Common Purslane.) Mostly prostrate: leaves cuneate- or spatulate- 

 obovate, with very obtuse or nearly truncate apex : calyx-lobes ovate, in bud somewhat 

 pointed by the projecting keel : stamens 7 to 12 : style-lobes 5 or 6: seeds black, obtusely 

 granulate. — Spec. i. 445 ; Engelm. in Gray, Pl. Lindh. pt. 2, 1.54 ; Gray, 1. c. — Common in 

 cult, grounds around dwellings, and, as is thought, indigenous on the plains of Arkansas?, 

 Texas, and westward. (Cosmopolite.) 



P. retlisa, Engelm. Ascending, greener : leaves somewhat more cuneate, often retuse : 

 calyx-lobes in bud obtuse, strongly carinate : petals small or minute : stamens 7 to 19 : style- 

 lobes 3 or 4 and shorter : seeds larger and echinate-tuberculate. — Engelm. in Gray, PI. 

 Lindh. pt. 2, 1.54, & PI. Wright, i. I3;''Brew. & Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 74. —Plains of Texas 

 and Arkansas to Arizona ^ and to the Colorado. 



H— Stem angled : petals acutish or pointed : calyx-lobes obscurely carinate : a wing-like 

 border around orifice of dehiscent capsule ; lid depressed-conical. 

 P. lanceolata, Engelm. 1. c. Erect or ascending : lower leaves spatulate and obtuse ; 

 upper oblanceolate or narrower, sometimes acute : petals spatulate or obovate, yellow or 



1 Add Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xxii. 274. 



2 S. W. Colorado, ace. to Coulter, Man. Rocky Mt. Reg. 37; also reported from Kansas, Iowa, and 

 Minnesota, but perhaps confused with the preceding nearly related species. 



