76 KEY AND FLORA 



Fruit a dark purple berry. A weed on waste ground. The young 

 branches are often eaten like asparagus, and the root, known as 

 " garget root," is used in medicine.* 



29. AIZOACEvE. ICE PLANT FAMILY 



Mostly fleshy plants, mainly natives of Africa. Flowers 

 often large and showy. Stamens often doubled and some of 

 them petal-like. Ovary 2-many-celled. 



[Our only very common genus belongs to a subfamily which 

 has little resemblance to the fleshy " ice plants," found in some 

 gardens, which best represent the family as a whole.] 



MOLLUGO L. 



Low branching annuals. Sepals 5, greenish outside, white 

 inside. Corolla wanting. Stamens 5, alternate with the 

 sepals, or 3, alternate with the cells of the ovary. Capsule 

 3-celled, many-seeded. 



1. M. verticillata L. CARPET WEED. Stems branching and form- 

 ing radiating patches. Leaves clustered in apparent whorls at the 

 joints of the stem, spatulate. Flowers in little sessile umbels at the 

 joints. Stamens commonly 3. A troublesome weed in sandy soil and 

 common on sandy beaches and river banks. 



30. PORTULACACE.ffi. PURSLANE FAMILY 



Generally herbs. Leaves opposite or alternate, entire; 

 stipules dry and membranaceous. Sepals 2. Petals 4 or more, 

 distinct or united below. Stamens 4 or more, hypogynous or 

 perigynous. Ovary usually superior, 1-celled ; style simple or 

 3-cleft ; ovules 2-many. Capsule opening transversely with a 



lid, or 2-3-valved. 



I. CLAYTONIA L. 



Perennial. Stem simple, smooth, erect, 4-10 in. high. 

 Leaves 2, opposite, smooth, succulent. Flowers in a terminal 

 raceme. Sepals 2, ovate, persistent. Petals 5, sometimes 

 joined at the base. Stamens 5, somewhat perigynous. Style 

 3-cleft ; ovary 1-celled, 3-6-seeded. 



