164 MOLLUGINB^. (INDIAN CHICKWEED FAMILY.) 



ed — Annual fleshy herbs, with three-branched cymes, borne on a 

 common peduncle, which becomes dilated, leaf -like in fruit, and falls 

 with the cyme ; the central branch 1-flowered, the lateral pinnati- 

 partite. sterile, 



P. eetiinatus, Desf. © .1 to .3, stems 2-3-chotomou8ly branch- 

 ed, ascending or procumbent. Leaves linear.fleshy. Cymes disposed in 

 a corymbose, leafy panicle, papillose-hairy ; hljes of sterile Iranches of 

 cyme irnbricated. hooked at tip — March to May — Sandy places ; 

 wilderness of Judea and Moab to Sinai, and southward, and east- 

 ward, 



12. COMETES, Burm. Comete8. 



Calyx closed, with 5, straight, rather concave lobes. Petals (or 

 sterile jfilaments) 5, strap-shaped, adnate to the staminiferous cup. Sta- 

 mens 5, opposite the calyx-lobes, the base united into a cup ; anthers 

 oblong. Ovule 1, erect. Style filiform, exserted, trifid at apex, with 

 gtigmatose branches. Utricle indehiscent. Seed oblong, compressed 

 — Annual herbs, more or less scabrous, with subulate stipules, erect, 

 2-3-chotomous stems, and three-branched cymes, on an unchanged petiole, 

 which falls with the cyme at maturity ; the central branch 1-flowered, 

 the lateral sterile, multipartite into pinnatipartite, plumose, rust-color- 

 ed bristles, which grow longer in fruit. 



C Abys§mica, R, Br. More or less scabrous-papillose, with 

 branching hairs. Leaves linear-lanceolate, mucronate. Calyx-lobes 

 oblong, hooded at apex, mucronate ; petals longer than filaments -^ 

 Spring — Southern Sinai and southward. 



Order XVI, MOLiliUCrlNE^, (Indian Chickweed Family), 



Herbs or shruhs, with regukcr, hermaphrodite flowers ^ 

 alternate or fseudovertiGillate leaves^ 5 f^ersistent sejjals, 3-5 

 stamens inserted at hase of calyx^ a free, incompletely or 

 completely, many-celled ovary^ numerous amphitropous 

 oxides, attached hy a short funicle to a central placenta; or 

 the central angle of the cells, l^etais indeiinite or 0. Cap- 

 sule membranous, loculicidal. Embryo annular, surround-" 

 ing tlie farinaceous albumen. Leaves with or without stip- 

 ules. 



1. TEi.EPmUM, L, Telephium. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, inserted on an obscurely perigynous disk at 

 the bottom of the calyx. Stamens 5, opposite the sepals. Styles 3, 

 recurved. Capsule 3-4-valved, incompletely 3-4-celled by means of 

 septa arising from valves. Seeds many, globalar-reniform, atfixed to 

 a central placenta — Fleshy herbs, with alternate, stipuled leaves, and 

 flowers in terminal, capitate cymes, 



1. T. Imperaii, L. 11 .3 to .4, glabrous, glaucous ; stems 

 numerous, simple, prostrate. Leaves oblong-spathulate, obtuse, ,01 

 to .02- long. Sepals oblong ; capsule pyramidal, tapering into a heak, 

 15-20-seeded ; seeds kidney-shaped, compressed — 



