CARYOPHYLLACE.K. (iMNK FAMILY.) 39 



3. PORTULACA, Tourn. PURSLANE. 



Sepals 2, united ami cohering with the ovary below, the upper portion cir- 

 cumscissile and deciduous with the upper part of the capsule. Petals 4 -6, 

 inserted with the 8 -20 stamens on tlie calyx. Style 3 -s- parted. Capsule 

 globose, 1 -celled, many-seeded. Low, fleshy herbs, with terete or flat, mostly 

 alternate leaves, and fugacious yellow or purple flowers. 



1. P. oleracea, L. Leaves flat, cuneate. naked in the axils ; flowers yel- 

 low; stamens 10-12. Cultivated ground everywhere. Stem prostrate. 



2. P. pilosa, L. Stem mostly prostrate and diffusely branched ; leaves 

 linear, woolly in the axils; flowers clustered, purple; stigmas 4; stamens 

 10-15. Waste ground. Introduced. 



3. P. halimoides, L. Stem thick, erect (3'- 6' high), branching ; leaves 

 terete, woolly in the axils; flowers few, in a terminal cluster, immersed in 

 wool, and surrounded by a whorl of short subulate bracts ; petals 4-6, yellow ; 

 stamens 8-12. Shell-Hummocks at Sarasota Bay ( Garler). 



ORDER 16. CARYOPHYLLACE.^E. (PixK FAMILY.) 



Herbs with tumid joints, entire opposite or whorled, often connate 

 leaves, and regular hypogynous or perigynous cymose flowers. Stip- 

 ules dry and scarious, or none. Sepals 4-5, imbricated in the bud, 

 persistent. Petals 4 - 5. Stamens as many as the sepals and opposite 

 them, or twice as many, or by abortion fewer. Ovary free, 1-5- 

 celled, with the amphitropous or campylotropous ovules attached to a 

 central placenta. Styles 2 - 5, distinct or partly united, stigmatic 

 along the inner side. Fruit valvate, 1 - many-seeded. Embryo curved, 

 or forming a ring around mealy albumen. 



Synopsis. 



TRIBE I. SILENE^E. Sepals united into a tube. Petals and stamens inserted on the 

 stipe of the ovary. Stipules none. 



1. SILENE. Styles 3. Capsule C-toothed. 



2. SAPONARIA. Styles 2. Capsule 4-toothed. 



3. AGROSTEMMA. Styles 5. Capsule 5-toothed. 



TRIBE II. AL,SINE;E. Sepals separate or nearly so. Stamens inserted at the base 

 of the sessile ovary. Stipules none. 



* Valves of the capsule as many as the styles. 



4. SAGINA. Styles and valves 4 - 5. 



5. ALSINE. Styles and valves 3. 



* * Valves or teeth of the capsule twice as many as the styles. 

 6 ARENARIA. Valves of the capsule 2 - 4, each soon 2-cleft. Petals entire. 



7. STELLARIA. Valves of the capsule C - 10. Petals 2-cleft. 



8. CERASTIUM. Capsule 8 - 10-toot bed. 



Tribe III. SPERGHLE/E. Sepals separate. Ovary sessile. Leaves stipulate. 



H- Leaves opposite. 



9. STIPULICIDA. Stem-leaves minute; the lowest spatulate. Flowers in terminal 



clusters. 



