90 CAKYOPHYLLACE.E. (PINK FAMILY.) 



pod ; petals pale ; sr-c ds obovate-rounded and roughened with points, wingless or 

 narrow-winged. (Spergularia salina, Presl. Tissa niariua, Britt.) Brack- 

 ish sands, etc., CQast of N. Eng. to Va., and southward. A form with smooth 

 seeds is var. LEIOSPERMA, N. E. Brown. (S. media, /Vr.xV.) (Eu.) 



Var. (?) minor, Watson. Small, ascending or decumbent ; flowers smaller, 

 on shorter pedicels (rarely 2" long), the sepals and pod l-H"long; seeds 

 wingless, usually papillose. Coast of X. II. and Mass. 



3. B. bore&lis, Watson. Diffusely branched, glabrous; pedicels usually 

 2 -4" long; petals white; pod ovate, ~2" long, about twice longer than the 

 sepals; seeds usually wingless, smooth or nearly so. (Tissa salina, Britt.) 

 On the coast, E. Maine to Labrador. 



12. SPERGULA, .L. SPURHEY. 



Stamens ."> or 10. Styles 5. The 5 valves of the pod opposite the sepals 

 Embryo spirally annular. Leaves in whorls. Otherwise as in Buda. (Name 

 from x/Hiri/H, to scatter, from the seeds.) 



S. AI:VE\SIS, L. (COUN SIM KKI^.) Annual; leaves numerous in the 

 whorls, thread-shaped (1 -2' long) ; stipules minute ; (lowers white, in a stalked 

 paiiided cyme; seeds rough. Grain-fields. (Adv. from Eu.) 



ORDER 16. POKTULACACEyE. (PURSLANE FAMILY.) 



Herbs, n-ith succulent leaves, ami r< ijular lul unsymmetrical flowers ; 

 viz., sepals fewer than the petals; the stamens opposite lite /H/alx it-Inn of 

 the .in mi Hum/I- r, !,nt often in<l< jiniie , otherwise nearly as duckweeds. 

 Sepals 2. Petals 5, or sometimes none. Stamens mostly 5-20. Styles 

 2-S, united In-low, or distinct, stigmatic along the inside. Pod 1-celled, 

 with few or many csmpylotropous seeds rising on stalks from the base. 

 Embryo curved around mealy albumen. Insipid and innocent herbs, 

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

 then shrivelling. 



1. I'ortulacn. Stamens 7 - 20, on the partly adherent calyx Pod opening by a lid. 



'-'. Talinum. St:uin-ii.-> move numerous than the petals, hypogynons Calyx deciduous. 



Pod iiKiny-SL'fded. 

 3, Claytoiiia. Siaim-ns as many as the hypogynous petals, and attached to their base. 



Calyx persistent. Pod y - G-seeded. 



1. PORTULACA, Tourn. PURSLANE. 



Calyx 2-cleft ; the tube cohering with the ovary below. Petals 5, rarely f>, 

 inserted on the calyx with the 7-20 stamens, fugacious. Style mostly 3-8- 

 parted. Pod 1-celled, globular, many-seeded, opening transversely, the upper 

 part (with the upper part of the calyx) separating as a lid. Fleshy annuals, 

 with mostly scattered leaves. (An old Latin name, of unknown meaning.) 



P OLERACEA, L. (COMMON l'i RSI.AM:.) Prostrate, very smooth; lea\es 

 obovate or wedge-form; flowers sessile (opening only in sunny mornings); 

 sepals keeled; petals pale yellow; stamens 7-12: style deeply 5-6-parted; 

 flower-bud flat arid acute. Cultivated and waste grounds; common. Seem- 

 ingly indigenous west and southwestward. (Nat. from Eu.) 



1. P. retusa,' Engelm. Leaves often retuse ; calyx-lobes obtuse in the 

 bud; petals small or minute; style shorter, 3- 4-cleft; seeds larger, sharply 



