DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 53 



I. PORTULA'CA, Purslane 



Low herbs with alternate or opposite leaves. Flowers ter- 

 minal and sessile. Petals 4-6. Stamens 7-30, inserted 

 where the calyx joins the ovary. Pistils with 3-8 styles. 

 Fruit like a box oj^ening with a' lid, full of black seeds. 



P. olera'cea. Purslane, Pusley. Prostrate. Flowers small. 

 Calyx lobes keeled. Petals yellow, spreading, notched. Common 

 everywhere. 



II. LEWIS'IA, Bitter-root 



Low herbs, withont stems, from thick, perpendicular roots. 

 Leaves forming a rosette at the apex of the root. Flowers 

 large, solitary, on low scapes, conspicuous when open, white or 

 rose-color. Sepals 2-8. Petals 3-16. Stamens numerous. 

 Style branches 3-8. Pod globose, luith thin walls that split 

 from the base upwards. 



L. redivi'va. Bitter-root, Leaves numerous, shorter than the 

 scapes. Scapes jointed above the middle, bearing an involucre of 

 5-7 papery bracts. The flower when expanded is an inch in diam- 

 eter, resembling a small cactus blossom. The sepals resemble the 

 petals. The Bitter Root Mountains receive their name from this 

 plant. It is the state flower of Montana. 



ni. CALANDRIN'IA 



Sepals green and persistent. Petals and stamens usually 5, 

 the former sometimes 3-10, the latter often indefinite. Oxmry 

 3-valved. Seeds black and shining or rough, numerous. 



a. C. Menzie'sii Torr. & Gray. Flowers crimson or magenta in 

 racemes. Petals a little longer than the sepals. Stamens 3-10. Seeds 

 shining. Widely distributed. 



h. C. el'egans Spach. Stems rather stout, smooth, w ith ascending 

 branches. Flowers numerous, rose-color. Petals twice as long as the 

 sepals. Stamens 10-15. Usually found most abundant in cultivated 

 ground. 



IV. MON'TIA, Miner's Lettuce 



Petals and stamens 5. Pod 3-valved and 3-seeded. Flowers 

 white or rose-color, in racemes or panicles. When the seeds 



