rORTULACACE^S. (PURSLANE LAMILY.) 63 



by conspicuous large silvery bracts ; calyx hairy, short-awned ; petals mere teeth 

 between the stamens. 1}. — Slides in the Notch of the White Mountains, New 

 Hampshire, and bare summits above : a recent discovery. Alleghany Moun- 

 tains from Virginia southward. July. 



2. P. die!&«i>t©Eaa», Nutt. Smooth, tufted ; stems (G'-12' high) ascend- 

 ing from a rather woody base ; leaves and bmcts awl-shaped ; cymes open, many- 

 times forked ; sepals short-pointed; minute bristles in place of petals. 1J. — 

 Rocks, Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and southwestward. July -Sept. 



Suborder IV. §CL,ESSAI\ T T2SEiE. The Knawel Family. 



18. SCLEKANTIIUS, L. Knawel. 



Sepals 5, united below in an indurated cup, enclosing the 1-seeded utri ! • 

 Petals none. Stamens 10 or 5. Styles 2, distinct. — Homely little weeds, with 

 awl-shaped leaves, obscure greenish clustered flowers, and no stipules. (Name 

 from aicknpos, hard, and uvdos, jloirer, from the hardened calyx-tube.) 



1. S. Annuus, L. Much branched and spreading (3' -5' high) ; flowers ses- 

 sile in the forks ; calyx-lobes scarcely margined. (£} — Sandy waste places. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



Suborder V. MOJLL.U<Si]VEilS. Lxdiax-Ciiickaveed Family. 



1$. MOEI,IJ€S©, L. LxDIAN-ClIICKWEED. 



Sepals 5, white inside. Petals none. Stamens hypogynous, 5 and alternate 

 with the sepals, or .3 and alternate with the 3 cells of the ovary. Stigmas 3. 

 Pod 3-celled, 3-valved, loculicidal, the partitions breaking away from the many- 

 seeded axis. — Lew homely annuals, much branched; the stipules obsolete. 

 (An old Latin name for some soft plant.) 



1. M. verticillista, L. (Carpet-weed.) Prostrate, forming patches ; 

 leaves spatulate, clustered in whorls at the joints, where the 1-flowered pedicels 

 form a sort of sessile umbel ; stamens usually 3. — Sandy river-banks, and cul- 

 tivated grounds. June -Sept. (An immigrant from farther south.) 



Order 22. PORTULACACEJE. (Purslane Family.) 



Herbs, with succulent leaves, and regular but unsymmelrical flowers ; viz., 

 sepals usually fewer than the petals ; the stamens opposite the petals when of 

 the same number, but often indefinite : olhenoise nearly as Chickweeds. — ■ 

 Sepals 2, rarely 3 or 5. Petals 5, or sometimes none. Stamens mostly 

 5 - 20. Styles 3-8, united below, or distinct, stigmatic along the inside. 

 Pod 1 - 5-celled, with few or many campylotropous seeds rising on slender 

 stalks from the base, or from a central placenta. Embryo curved around 

 mealy albumen. — Insipid and innocent herbs, with opposite or alternate 

 entire leaves. Corolla opening only in sunshine, mostly ephemeral, then 

 shrivelling. 



