198 FICOIDE^E. 



few, larger spines 1-4, cruciate, with 4-6 smaller ivhite radiating ones below; 

 flowers yellow Minn, to Iowa and Kan., and westward. 



ORDER 47. FICOIDE^. 



A miscellaneous group, chiefly of fleshy or succulent plants, with mostly 

 opposite leaves and no stipules. Differing from Caryophyllaceae and Por- 

 tulacacese by having the ovary and capsule 2 - several-celled, and the 

 stamens and petals sometimes numerous, as in Cactaceae (but the latter 

 wanting in most of the genera) , seeds, as in all these orders, with the 

 slender embryo curved about mealy albumen. Our genera are apetalous 

 and with the calyx free from the ovary. 



1 Sesuvium. Calyx-lobes 5, petaloid. Stamens 5 - 60. Capsule circumscissile. Succulent. 

 2. Mollugo. Sepals 5. Stamens 3 or 5. Capsule 3-valved. Not succulent. 



1. SESUVIUM, L. SEA PURSLANE. 



Calyx 5-parted, purplish inside, persistent, free. Petals none. Stamens 5- 

 60, inserted on the calyx. Styles 3 - 5, separate. Pod 3 - 5-celled, many-seeded, 

 circumscissile, the upper part falling off as a lid. Usually prostrate maritime 

 herbs, with succulent stems, opposite leaves, and axillary or terminal flowers. 

 (An unexplained name.) 



1. S. pentandrum, Ell. Annual, procumbent or sometimes erect; 

 leaves oblong- to obovate-spatulate, obtuse ; flowers sessile ; stamens 5. (S. 

 Portulacastrum, Gray, Manual, not L.) Sea-coast, N. J. to Fla. 



2. MOLLUGO, L. INDIAN-CHICKWEED. 



Sepals 5, white inside. Stamens hypogynous, 5 and alternate with the sepals, 

 or 3 and alternate with the 3 cells of the ovary. Stigmas 3. Capsule 3-celled, 

 3-valved, loculicidal, the partitions breaking away from the many-seeded axis. 

 Low homely annuals, much branched ; the stipules obsolete. (An old Latin 

 name for some soft plant.) 



M. VERTICILLATA, 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 48. UMBELLIFEB^. (PARSLEY FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with small flowers in umbels (or rarely in heads"), the calyx entirely 

 adhering to the 2-celled and 2-ovuled ovary, the 5 petals and 5 stamens in- 

 serted on the disk that crowns the ovary and surrounds the base of the 2 

 styles. Fruit consisting of 2 seed-like dry carpels. Limb of the calyx 

 obsolete, or a mere 5-toothed border. Petals either imbricated in the bud 

 or valvate with the point indexed. The two carpels (called mericarps) 

 cohering by their inner face (the commissure), when ripe separating from 

 each other and usually suspended from the summit of a slender prolon- 

 gation of the axis (carpophore} ; each carpel marked lengthwise with 5 

 primary ribs, and often with 4 intermediate (secondary) ones ; in the inter- 



