Order 16. Portulacece. 23 



In genus Portnlaca the stamens are perigynous, and the order was 

 therefore formerly included in Calyciflorals. It comes near to 

 Ficoidese. 



PORTULAOSI. Succulent herbs, flowers terminal surrounded 

 by a whorl of leaves, seeds numerous, kidney-shaped. 



1. P. oleracea. A small prostrate plant, smooth and fleshy, 

 leaves alternate, sessile, flat, oblong, cuneate ; flowers sessile 

 yellow, petals 5, stamens 8 to 12, style about 5 parted. Kurfd, 

 mothi-ghol, Ghol bdji. 



Commonly found in moist places in the rains. It is the English 

 "common purslane," cultivated as a vegetable in many parts of 

 Europe and Asia; found wild in all warm climates, H. In Cook's 

 voyages, the finding of purslane in the Pacific Islands is always 

 mentioned as a blessing to the ships' crews. 



P. quadrifida, rdnghol raighol, is so like this that it is distinguish- 

 able only on examination, but it has only 4: petals, a 4-cleft style, 

 and leaves in whorls of 4. Common. * P. tuberosa, stems short and 

 spreading, leaves linear, terete, flowers in terminal clusters, stamens 

 20 or more. Cutch, Palin, Sind, Stocks. Junak. 



The garden Portulacas are well known for the brilliance of their 

 blossoms. 



ORDER 17. T AM ARIS CINE-SI. Tamarisks. 



Bushes and small trees, leaves alternate, very minute, sepals 

 and petals 5 or 10, stamens 4 to 10, ovary free, stigmas 2 to 

 5, capsule 3-valved. 



The greenness of these bushes, though almost leafless, and their 

 growth in the beds of rivers or on the sandy seashore, make the 

 species easily distinguishable. 



TAMAEIX. Leaves scale like, flowers in spikes or dense 

 racemes, disk lobed, ovary narrower upwards. 



1. T. gattica. Leaves smooth subulate, not sheathing, 

 flowers in slender racemes, pink and pretty, disk 5-lobed, 

 stamens 5. Jhao. The galls are called magi yd mai. 



This is the tamarisk commonly found, though scarcely wild, on 

 the English coast. D. has not got it, but H. and B. both call it 

 commom throughout India. 



2. T. ericoides (Trichaurus e. D.). A tall shrub, leaves 

 sheathing ; flowers in spikes, pink, heath-like, only half open- 

 ing, stamens 10, style protruding, fruit over half an inch long, 

 conical. Kardti, sarub. 



Common in the beds of Deccan and Konkan rivers. * T. dioica is 

 very like No. 1, but usually much smaller, and the foliage a greyer 

 green. Not in D, common in the Deccan ((?.) ; and found at Ahmed- 

 abad and Junagarh by Mr. Jyekrishna I. 



