176 PORTULACACEAE (PURSLANE FAMILY) 



smooth narrow body usually 3-nerved. (A.carnea Greene, Pitt. 3: 343. 1898.) 

 Southern Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. 



40. AIZOACEAE A. Br. CARPET WEED FAMILY 



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

 opposite leaves and no stipules; differing from Caryophyllaceae and Portula- 

 caceae by having distinct partitions to the ovary and capsule. Stamens some- 

 times numerous, as in Cactaceae. Petals wanting in ours. Ficoideae. 



Fleshy plants; capsules circumscissile . . . . . . . .1. Sesuvium. 



Plants not fleshy; capsule valvate 2. Mollugo. 



1. SESUVIUM L. ' SEA PURSLANE 



Smooth branching mostly prostrate herbs. Leaves opposite, linear to spat- 

 ulate, entire. Flowers axillary and terminal, solitary or clustered. Calyx- 

 tube turbinate; the lobes apiculate on the back near the top, membranously 

 margined. Styles 3-5. Capsule ovate-oblong. 



1. Sesuvium sessile Pers. Syn. 2: 39. 1805. Erect and dichotomously 

 branched; stems smooth or nearly so: leaves linear-oblong to spatulate, sub- 

 acute or obtuse, 2-4 cm. long: flowers sessile, 6-10 mm. long: sepals horned 

 on the back near the apex: stamens many. S. Portulacastrum. On saline 

 plains; southern Colorado and throughout the southwest. 



2. MOLLUGO L. CARPET WEED 



Low and much branched, glabrous annuals. Leaves spatulate to linear- 

 oblanceolate, entire, opposite and apparently verticillate. Flowers mostly on 

 long pedicels, axillary. Stamens hypogynous. Styles 3. Seeds longitudi- 

 nally sulcate on the back. 



1. Mollugo verticillata L. Sp. PL 89. 1753. Prostrate-spreading, gla- 

 brous, not fleshy: leaves 5-6 in each verticil, obtuse: pedicels umbellately 

 fascicled at the nodes: capsule oblong-ovoid: seeds shining. Colorado and 

 New Mexico, and across the continent. 



41. PORTULACACEAE Reichenb. PURSLANE FAMILY 



More or less succulent herbs, with simple and entire leaves (either opposite 

 or alternate) and regular but unsymmetrical perfect flowers. Sepals (except 

 in Lewisid) 2. Petals 2-5 or more. Stamens opposite the petals or numerous. 

 Ovary 1-celled, in fruit becoming capsular; style 2-8-cleft. Stipules none or 

 scarious or reduced to hairs. Flowers open only in sunshine or bright day- 

 light. 



Ovary free from the calyx; capsule valvate, except in Lewisia. 

 Sepals herbaceous; capsule 3-valved from summit, with 3 stigmas. 



Calyx deciduous and the petals ephemeral . . . . .1. Talinum. 



Calyx persistent and the petals often marcescent. 



Roots cormose or fleshy ........ 2. Claytpnia. 



Roots fibrous or rhizomatous ....... 3. Montia. 



Sepals somewhat scarious; capsule 2-valved, with 2 stigmas. 

 Stamens not more than 3. 



Annuals; style short or wanting 4. Calyptridium. 



Perennials; style very long ........ 5. Spraguea. 



Stamens 5-40; capsule circumscissile near base . . . .6. Lewisia. 



Ovary adnate to calyx below the middle; capsule circumscissile near the 



middle 7. Portulaca. 



