132 DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



ORDER LII. SCLERANTHE^E. Lind. 



Flowers monoclinous. Calyx 4 or 5-toothed, with an urcc- 

 olate tube. Stamens 1 10, inserted into the orifice of the 

 tube. Ovary simple, superior, 1-seeded. Styles 1 or 2, 

 eniarginate at the apex. Fruit a membranous utricle, enclosed 

 within the hardened calyx. Seed pendulous from the apex of 

 a funiculus, which arises from the bottom of the cell ; embryo 

 cylindrical, curved round farinaceous albumen. 



Small herbs. Leaves opposite, without stipules. 



1. SCLERANTHUS. Linn. 



Calyx 5-cleft, persistent ; tube urceolate. Petals none. 

 Stamens 10, rarely 5 or 2. Styles 2. Capsule very smooth, 

 without valves, covered by the indurated tube of the calyx. 



Decandria. Digynia. 



S. annuus Linn. : stems spreading, slightly pubescent ; flowers de- 

 candrous ; calyx of the fruit spreading, acute. 



HAB. Sandy fields. N. S. July. Q. Stems numerous, pro- 

 cumbent. Flowers very small, green, in axillary fascicles. 



Knmcel. 



ORDER LIII. CRASSULACE./E. De Cand. Lind. 



Sepals 3 20, more or less united at the base. Petals in- 

 serted in the bottom of the calyx, distinct or cohering in a mo- 

 nopetalous corol. Stamens inserted with the petals, either 

 equal to them in number and alternate with them, or twice as 

 many ; filaments distinct, subulate ; anthers 2-celled, burst- 

 ing lengthwise. Hypogynous scales several, 1 at the base of 

 each ovary, sometimes obsolete. Ovaries as many as the 

 petals, 1-celled, tapering into stigmas. Fruit consisting of 

 several follicles, opening by the suture in their face. Seeds 

 attached to the margins of the suture, variable in number ; 

 embryo straight in the axis of the albumen, with the radicle 

 pointing to the hilum. 



Succulent herbs or shrubs. Leaves entire or pinnatifid ; 

 stipules none. Flowers usually in cymes, sessile, often ar"- 

 ranged unilaterally along the divisions of the cymes. 



