64 PORTULACEM. [MoNTiA. 



or more, free or united at the base, imbricate in bud. Stamens 4 or more, 

 free or adnate to the petals, filaments filiform. Disk small or 0. Orn/'/t 

 free, 1-celled : style simple or 3-fid, branches stigmatose all over ; ovules 

 2 or more, on long free or connate basal funicles, amphitropal, ascending, 

 micropyle inferior or transverse. Capsule dehiscing transversely or 2-3- 

 valved. Seeds 1 or more, compressed, hilum marginal ; embryo terete, 

 hooked or annular and coiled round the mealy albumen. DISTRIB. Cosmo- 

 politan, but chiefly American ; genera 15 ; species 125. AFFINITIES. Close 

 to Cariiophylleae, Ficoidece, and Molluginece. PROPERTIES. Purslane is a 

 good salad and a potherb. 



Petals united at the base. Stamens 3 1. Montia. 



Petals free. Stamens 5 1*. Cfm/t,,,,;,,. 



1. MON'TIA, L. BLINKS. 



A small, annual, glabrous herb. Leaves usually opposite. Flowers mi- 

 nute, solitary or few and shortly cymose, white. Petals 5, hypogynous, 

 united at the base. Disk small, hypogynous. Stamens hypogynous, usu- 

 ally 3, opposite and attached to the base of the petals. Ovary -free ; stylos 

 short, 3-fid ; ovules 3. Capsule globose, 3-valved. Sf-eds 1-3, compressed ; 

 embryo annular. DISTRIB. Europe (Arctic), N. Africa, Siberia, W. Asia 

 to the Himalaya, N. America, Arctic and Antarctic regions. ETYM. 

 J. de Monti, an Italian botanist. 



1. M. fonta'na, L. ; leaves spathulate, flowers drooping then erect. 

 Brooks and marshy grounds ; ascends to nearly 3,200 ft. in the Highlands ; 



fl. "May-Aug. Pale-green, 1-5 in., usually flaccid, branched, tufted. Leaves 



yin., opposite or nearly so. Ci/mfx 1- or few-flowered ; flowers ^ in. diam. 

 icts scarious. Petals white, a little longer than the obtuse sepals. Capsule 



obovoid. Seeds shining. 

 VAR. 1, mi'nor Gmelin (sp.) ; stem short, cymes terminal and axillary, 



tubercles of seed conical. VAR. 2, rimt/a'ris, Gmelin (sp.); stems elongate 



flaccid, cymes all axillary, tubercles of seeds flattened. 

 1*. CLAYTONIA, L. 



Glabrous succulent herbs. Radical leaves petioled, cauline alternate and 

 opposite, exstipulate. Flowers in terminal cymes. Petals 5. Stamens 5, 

 opposite and adnate to the bases of the petals. Ovary free ; style entire 

 or 3-fid at the tip ; ovules few. Capsule membranous, 3-valved. DISTRIB. 

 America, KW. Asia, Australia; species 20. ETYM. Dr. J. J. Clayton, 

 an American botanist. 



1. C. PERFOLIA'TA, Don; radical leaves rhomboid, cauline 2 connate. 

 A garden outcast, rapidly becoming naturalized in many parts of England ; fl. 



May-July. Annual, tufted, fleshy, 6-12 in. Cauline leaves connate into a 



suborbicular blade. Flow small, white. Not in the Lond. Cat., but too 



frequent to be omitted. DISTRIB. N.W. America. 



ORBER XIV. PARONY CHIE.JE. 



Annual or perennial generally small, often tufted herbs. Leaves 

 opposite or alternate, quite entire (serrulate and exstipulate in Scleran- 

 thus) ; stipules scarious. flowers very small, cymose, regular, 2-sexual. 

 Sepals 4-5, free or connate, persistent, closing over the fruit. Petals 



