20 CEASSULACE^ 



Plant perennial. This little Knot-grass, doubtless, received its English name 

 from its entangling stems. These have a reddish hue, and the small white 

 flowers which grow around them in axillary whorls, are remarkable for their 

 thick calyxes. The plant is found on boggy lands and in standing pools in 

 Cornwall and Devonshire. In the former county it is not uncommon. It 

 flowers from July to September. One of its old names was Whitlow-grass, 

 from a fancied eflicacy in its cure of whitlows. The Germans call it Nagel- 

 krant, and the Spaniards NevadiUa. It is the Paronique of the French. 



4. All-seed {Polycdrpon). 



Four-leaved All-seed (P. idrcq^hjllum). — Stems prostrate and 

 branched ; leaves oval, tapering at the base, upper leaves in pairs, lower in 

 fours ; flowers with 3 stamens. Plant annual. This plant is neither con- 

 spicuous nor frequent in this kingdom, occurring chiefly on the southern 

 coast of England. It has also been found in Glamorganshire, and is a 

 common Aveed in the Isle of Jersey, growing all about St. Aubyns, on sunny 

 banks, on hedges, and in gardens. It produces, from May to August, 

 numerous little greenish-white flowers. It has plenty of tiny seeds in its 

 small two-valved capsules ; but the name which it now bears was originally 

 applied to the common Knot-grass {Polygonum aviculare), which it somewhat 

 resembles. One of its old English names was Linum. 



Order XXXV. CRASSULACE^— STONECROP TRIBE. 



Sepals 3 — 20, more or less united at the base ; petals equal to the sepals 

 in number, inserted in the bottom of the calyx ; stamens as many, or twice 

 as many — in the latter case, the stamens opposite the petals are shorter than 

 the others ; ovaries as many as the petals, 1 -celled, tapering into stigmas, 

 often with a gland at the base of each ; fruit consisting of several erect seed- 

 vessels, which open lengthwise ; seeds in a double row. This order is com- 

 posed of herbs and shrubs, which have thick succulent leaves and stems, and 

 star-shaped blossoms. They are remarkable for growing on the most arid 

 soils, ornamenting the sandy deserts of Southern Africa with beautiful 

 blossoms, and inhabiting, in greater or lesser number, all parts of the world. 

 Many grow on rocks ; some on walls or roofs of houses, or dry, hot, suimy 

 slopes ; living on the nutriment deinved from the atmosphere, rather than on 

 that absorbed through the roots. Many of the plants are used medicinally, 

 being often pungent or acrid, in several cases refrigerant, and in some 

 astringent, or containing malic acid. 



1. TiLL^A. — Sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels 3—5, one or more 

 seeded. Name from an Italian botanist, Michael Angelo Tilli. 



2. Pennywort {CotyUdon). — Sepals 5 ; corolla tubular, 5-cleft ; stamens 

 10 ; carpels 5, with a scale at the base of each. Name from the Greek 

 kufyle, a cup, from the form of the leaves. 



3. House-leek (Sempervivum). — Sepals, petals, and carpels 6 — 10 ; 

 stamens, twice as many. Name from the Latin semper, always, and vivo, to 

 live. 



