DIAPENSIA FAMILY. Diapensiacese. 



DIAPENSIA FAMILY. Diapensiacece. 

 Low perennial herbs, or tufted shrubs of a mosslike 

 character, very closely related to the Ericacece — the at- 

 tachment of the stamens to the corolla being the prin- 

 cipal difference, — with five-parted tiny flowers whose 

 style is tipped with a three-lobed stigma. Fruit a capsule. 

 p . F An interesting and pretty mosslike little 



ering Moss plant common on the pine barrens of New 

 Pyxidanthera Jersey. The linear or lance-shaped leaves, 

 barbulata scarcely \ inch long, are medium green, 



^ hl * e ° r plnk sharp at the tip, and hairy at the base when 

 April-May ,, , , , , 



young ; they are crowded toward the ends 



of the branches. The white or pale pink flowers are 

 small, with five blunt lobes between which are curiously 

 fixed the five conspicuous stamens ; they are numerous, 

 and apparently stemless. Branches prostrate and creep- 

 ing. 6-10 inches long. In sandy soil, dry pine barrens. 

 From N. J., south to N. Car. Found at Lakewood, 

 N. J. The name is from two Greek words, box and an- 

 ther, referring to the anthers which open as if by a lid. 



PRIMROSE FAMILY. Primulacece. 

 Herbs with leaves variously arranged, and with per- 

 fect, regular flowers. The corolla (usually five-cleft) is 

 tubular, funnel-formed, or salver-formed. Stamens as 

 many as there are lobes to the corolla and fixed opposite 

 to them, but the corolla lacking in the genus named 

 Glaux. Seeds in a one-celled and several- valved capsule. 

 P th rf 'I ^ P ecuuar aquatic plant of a somewhat 



Bottonia spongy nature, common in shallow stag- 



inflata nant water. Its strange appearance is 



White due to the cluster of inflated primary 



June-August fl owei .. s talks which are about i inch 

 thick, constricted at the joints, and almost leafless. The 

 leaves are cut into threadlike divisions, and are beneath 

 the water, densely distributed on the floating and root- 

 ing stems. The insignificant whitish flower, \ inch 

 long, has a corolla much shorter than the calyx. The 

 seed-capsule is globular. Stems sometimes 18 inches 

 long. Shallow ponds and ditches, from Mass., to cen- 

 tral N.Y., and south. Named for Peter Hotton, botanist 



34o 



