92 SUMMER FLOWERS. 



a perennial with annual stems two to four feet or more in 

 height, and furnished with lance-shaped entire leaves growing 

 in opposite pairs, or sometimes in threes. These leaves become 

 smaller in the upper part of the stem, where, in their axils, 

 the flowers appear, in masses of crowded whorls, the whole 

 forming a whorled spike, more or less leafy below. The in- 

 dividual flowers consist of a small tubular cylindrical calyx, 

 having from eight to twelve teeth, arranged in two series, the 

 inner ones being broader than the outer ; a corolla of from 

 four to six large showy ^ petals, inserted in the upper part of 

 the calyx-tube; twelve stamens, inserted near the base of the 

 calyx-tube ; a two-celled free or superior ovary, surmounted 

 by a filiform style, and growing into a many-seeded capsule. 



The Water Chickweed,"^ an insignificant succulent annual, 

 found in springy places and on the edges of rills, represents 

 the Portulacaceous or Purslane family, another group of the 

 Calyciflores, of which the genus Calandrinia of our flower- 

 gardens affords much handsomer illustrations. This little plant 

 growls in tufts a few inches high, and has small obovate or 

 spathulate leaves, and solitary flowers in the axils of the upper 

 leaves, the flowers being minute, with a calyx or cup of two 

 sepals, and a corolla of five w hite petals united into one but 

 split open in front. There are three stamens, three stigmas, and 

 a capsule opening in three valves and containing three seeds. 



In the Wall Pepper t we have an illustration of the Crassu- 

 laceous family, a Calyciflorous group, containing many very 

 beautiful species of flowering plants familiar in gardens under 

 the names of Sedum, Sempervivw7i, Crassula, etc. The pre- 

 sent native species is a common perennial British plant, found 

 on walls and on rocks, and in stony and sandy places in a 



* Montia fontana — Plate 13 E. 

 t Sedum acre— Plate 13 C. 



