CARPET-WEED FAMILY 461 



the lobes (in ours) 5, ovate, unequal. Petals none. Stamens 1 to 3. Ovary 

 superior, 1-celled; style 2-cleft. Fruit a subglobose circumscissile capsule. 

 Seeds minute, smoothish, the funiculi persistent on the central placenta. 

 Species 1, West Indies. (Greek kupsele, a beehive, which the capsule is thought 

 to resemble.) 



1. C. humifusa Turp. Stems much branched and matted, the plants 1 

 or 2 inches broad; leaves oblong or elliptical, obtuse, 2 to 6 lines long, the 

 petioles slender, nearly as long; stamens 3, rarely 1, inserted opposite the 

 sinuses. 



Immigrant from the West Indies, occurring sparingly in low lands and 

 rarely seen. 



Locs. Lower San Joaquin Kiver, Congdon; Aptos, Parry. Aug. 



Eef. CYPSELEA HUMIFUSA Turp. Ann. Mus. Par. 7: 219, t. 12, fig. 5 (1806), type loc. 

 San Domingo. 



4. SESUVIUM L. 



Fleshy decumbent or prostrate herbs with opposite leaves and no stipules. 

 Flowers solitary in the axils, sessile or shortly pediceled. Calyx-tube turbi- 

 nate, the lobes 5, rose-pink inside, oblong, obtuse. Petals none. Stamens (in 

 ours) numerous, inserted on the calyx. Ovary 2 to 5-celled, with as many 

 separate styles. Capsule membranous, the upper part falling off as a lid. 

 Seeds smooth. Embryo annular. Species 5, chiefly tropical and subtropical 

 coasts. (Latin Sesuvium, the country of the Sesuvii, a Gallic tribe mentioned 

 by Caesar, the application to this genus unknown.) 



1. S. sessile Pers. LOWLAND PURSLANE. Stems prostrate, freely branch- 

 ing, 1 to 3 feet long; herbage finely warty; leaves broadly spatulate, y 2 to 

 2 inches long; flowers 4 to 5 lines long; sepals ovate-lanceolate, commonly 

 acuminate, 3 lines long; ovary 2 or 3-celled, styles 2 or 3. 



River lowlands and alkaline fields in the San Joaquin Valley and south- 

 ward to Southern California. East to Kansas and south to Mexico. Brazil. 

 May-Aug. 



Locs. San Joaquin Co., Jepson; Knights Ferry, San-ford; Palo Verde Valley, Jepson 5271; 

 Blue Lake, Imperial Co., Abrams 3194; Ramona, T. Brandegee; Bakersfield, Davy 1771; Owens 

 Lake, Jepson 5095; Bagdad, T. Brandegee; Nigger Slough, Los Angeles, Braunton 574. 



Eefs. SESUVIUM SESSILE Pers. Syn. 2: 39 (1807). S. portulacastrum Brew. & Wztts. Bot. 

 Cal. 1: 251 (1876). 



5. TETRAGONIA L. SEA SPINACH. 



Ours a succulent annual with alternate plane leaves. Flowers axillary, 

 greenish, apetalous. Calyx 4-lobed, its tube adnate to the 3 to 9-celled ovary. 

 Stamens 1 to many, perigynous. Fruit a hard or bony nut, indehiscent, en- 

 veloped by the calyx which bears several horn-like protuberances. About 

 25 species, nearly all southern hemisphere and chiefly South Africa. (Greek 

 tetra, 4, and gonu, knee or angle, alluding to the fruit.) 



1. T. expansa Murr. NEW ZEALAND SPINACH. Branches procumbent or 

 prostrate; leaves rhombic-ovate, entire, 1 to 2y 2 inches long, abruptly con- 

 tracted at base to a broad petiole, the surface covered with crystalline papillae ; 

 flowers subsessile, 1 to 3 in each axil; calyx-lobes widely spreading, yellowish 

 within ; fruit 4-horned, 4 to 6 lines long. 



Native of Australasia, cultivated in California for use as summer greens and 

 sparingly spontaneous on sea-beaches of the middle Calif ornian coast. 



Locs. Pacific Grove, Heller 6275; Marin and Alameda cos. (Greene, Fl. Fr. .240); Fort 

 Point and s. San Francisco (Zoe, 2: 352). 



Refs. TETRAGONIA EXPANSA Murr. in Comm. Goetting, 6: 13, t. 5 (1783); Pax in Engler 

 & Prantl, Nat. Pflzfam. 3ib : 45, fig. 18 (1889). 



