PORTULACACEAE 463 



PORTULACACEAE. PURSLANE FAMILY. 



Ours low herbs with succulent entire leaves and regular perfect flowers. 

 Calyx chorisepalous (synsepalous and superior in Portulaca). Sepals 2 (or 

 in Lewisia 2 to 8), fewer than the petals. Petals commonly 5 (3 to 16), 

 opening only in sunshine, withering quickly. Stamens 3 to 20, sometimes 

 more numerous, opposite the petals when of the same number. Ovary 1-celled, 

 commonly superior; styles 2 to 8, united below or distinct, stigmatic along 

 the inside. Fruit a capsule, dehiscent from the apex by 2 or 3 valves, or 

 circumscissile and the top falling away as a lid. About 140 species in 16 

 genera, all continents but mostly America. 



Bibliog. Gray, A., Portulacaceae [of N. Am.], (Proe. Am. Aead. 22: 272-285, 1887). 

 Brandegee, K., Studies in Portulacaceae (Proe. Cal. Acad. ser. 2, 4: 86-91, 1894). Howell, 

 Thos., Rearrangement of Am. Portulacaceae (Erythea, 1: 29-41, 1893). 

 Capsule 2 to 3-valved; sepals 2, distinct and free from the ovary, persistent. 



Style 1, stigmas 2 ; flowers mostly in scorpioid spikes ; capsule 2-valved ; sepals plane, 



scarious or scarious-margined .1. CALYPTKIDIUM. 



Style-branches 3 ; sepals more or less concave. 



Flowers in leafy racemes or in panicles; petals commonly red, showy; stamens mostly 



5 or more ; seed numerous ; annuals 2. CALANDRINIA. 



Flowers in naked or merely bracteate racemes; petals commonly white or pinkish; 



seeds few (3 to 6). 

 Stems from mostly fibrous roots; stamens 5 (or 3) ; annuals, or perennials by 



rhizomes or stolons 3. MONTIA. 



Stems from thick roots or conns; stamens 5 4. CLAYTONIA. 



Capsule circumscissile; stamens few to numerous. 



Sepals 2 to 8, distinct and free from the ovary, persistent 5. LEWISIA. 



Sepals 2, united below and partly adherent to the ovary, the free upper portion deciduous. . 



6. PORTULACA. 



1. CALYPTRIDIUM Nutt. 



Herbs with alternate or basal spatulate leaves. Flowers small, in panicles 

 or mostly in solitary or clustered scorpioid spikes. Sepals 2, scarious or 

 scarious-margined, orbicular. Petals 2 to 4. Stamens 1, 2, or 3. Style simple ; 

 stigmas 2. Capsule membranous, 2-valved, few to many-seeded. Species 6, 

 western North America. (Greek kaluptra, a calyptra, the petals closing over 

 each other and carried up on the capsule.) 

 Style very short, this and the 1, 2, or 3 stamens included; capsule 5 to 20-seeded. Subgenus 



EUCALYPTRIDIUM. 



Spikes not scorpioid, borne in a panicle; petals 3 (or 2) ; stamen 1; capsule 3 to 4 times 



length of fruiting calyx 1. C. monandrum. 



Spikes scorpioid, sometimes very short; capsule little or not at all surpassing fruiting 

 calyx. 



Petals 2 ; stamen 1 2. C. roseum. 



Petals 4; stamens in same species 1, 2, or 3. 



Sepals not emarginate or reniform at base; Southern California. . . .3. C. parryi. 



Sepals round-renif orm ; Clear Lake region 4. C. quadripetalum. 



Style long, filiform, this and the 3 stamens exserted; capsule few-seeded. Subgenus SPRAGUEA. 



Spikes borne in an umbel or capitate-congested at summit of the scape-like stems 



5. C. umbellatum. 



1. C. monandrum Nutt. Annual; stems several from the base, spreading 

 or prostrate, 1 or 4 to 9 inches long; leaves mostly in a basal rosette, some 

 scattered along the stem, linear-spatulate, % to 2 (or 3) inches long; flowers 

 in short spikes in a terminal panicle ; panicle 1 to 6 inches long ; sepals 1 line 

 long, little accrescent ; petals commonly 3 ; capsule linear, compressed, be- 

 coming much exserted, 3 to 4 lines long, more or less curved on dehiscence, 

 5 to 10-seeded. 



Monterey Co. south to San Diego, east to the Colorado and Mohave deserts 

 and north to Kern and Inyo cos. Arizona. 



Locs. Nacimiento Eiver, Eastwood; Hernandez, Eastwood; Ft. Tejon, ace. Greene (Fl. Fr. 

 181) ; N. Fork Kern River, Purpus 5720; Argus Peak, Hall $ Chandler 6900; Barstow, Jepson 

 5379; Pampa, Kern Co., Heller 7641; Coachella, Hall 5811; Carrizo Creek, T. Brandegee; 



