152 BOTANY. 



below ; anthers two-celled, bursting longitudinally. Torus fleshy, filling up 

 the bottom of the calyx, supporting the ovaries on its middle and the petals 

 and stamens on its margin. Ovaries five, opposite to the petals, distinct, 

 each with a long style arising from the inner angle near the base ; ovules 

 in pairs, collateral, erect, straight, with the foramen at the opposite 

 extremity from the hilum (id est, orthotropus). Fruit of five coriaceous, 

 pyriform, indehiscent carpels. Seeds solitary, uncinate, attached to the base 

 of the carpels ; albumen none. Embryo of the same shape as the seed ; 

 radicle as long as the cotyledons, at the opposite end from the hilum ; 

 cotyledons oblong, fleshy, incumbent. Sea side shrubs. Leaves simple, 

 oblong-spatulate, thickish, pubescent, crowded at the apices of the branches, 

 exstipulate. Flowers yellow, bracteate, somewhat terminal. Suriana, the 

 sole genus, is represented in Florida by S. maritima. 



Ordkr 135. PARONYCHiACEy^:;, the Knotwort F^nily. Sepals four to five, 

 distinct or cohering. Petals perigynous, between the divisions of the calyx, 

 usually inconspicuous, sometimes 0. Stamens usually perigynous, some- 

 times hypogynous, opposite to the sepals when equal to them in number, 

 some of them occasionally wanting ; filaments distinct, rarely united ; 

 anthers bilocular. Ovary superior, with one or more ovules ; styles two to 

 three, distinct or combined. Fruit unilocular, either a utricle covered by 

 the calyx, or a three-valved capsule. Seeds either numerous, attached to a 

 free central placenta, or solitary and pendulous from a long funiculus 

 arising from the base of the fruit. Embryo more or less curved, on one 

 side of farinaceous albumen, or surrounding it. Herbaceous or soinevvhat 

 shrubby plants, with opposite or alternate, sometimes setaceous and 

 clustered leaves, which are either exstipulate or have scarious stipules. 

 Found in barren places in various parts of Europe, Asia, and A'^orth 

 America. They have no known properties of importance. The order has 

 been divided into two sections: 1. Illecebreae, with the embryo lying on 

 one side of the albumen, and stipulate leaves. 2. Sclerantheae, with a 

 peripherical embryo, and exstipulate leaves. There are twenty-eight known 

 genera, and nearly 120 species. Examples : *Paronychia, Illecebrum, 

 *Polycarpon, Corrigiola, Scleranthus. 



Order 136. Portulacace^, the Purslane Family. Sepals two, cohering 

 at the base. Petals usually five, rarely wanting, distinct or cohering at the 

 base, sometimes hypogynous. Stamens usually perigynous, variable in 

 number, all fertile, opposite the petals when of the same number ; filaments 

 distinct ; anthers versatile, bilocular, with longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary 

 free or partially adherent, one-celled, formed by three united carpels ; style 

 single or ; stigmas several. Fruit capsular, one-celled, opening by 

 circumscissile dehiscence, or by three valves, occasionally monospeimous 

 or indehiscent. Seeds numerous or definite, or solitary, attached to a 

 central placenta ; albumen farinaceous ; embryo peripherical ; radicle long. 

 Succulent shrubs or herbs, with alternate, seldom opposite, entire, exstipulate 

 leaves, often having hairs in their axils. They are found in various parts 

 of the world, chiefly, however, in South America and at the Cape of Good 

 üope. They have a great affinity to Caryophyllacese, from which they are 

 152 



