90 CAKYOPHYLLACE^. (PINK FAMILY.) 



pod ; petals pale ; seeds obovate-rounded and roughened with points, wingless or 

 narrow-winged. (Spergularia salina, Presl. Tissa marina, Britt.) — Brack- 

 ish sands, etc., coast of N. Eng. to Va., and southward. A form with smooth 

 seeds is var. leiosperma, N. E. Brown. (S. media, Presl.) (Eu.) 



Var. (1) minor, Watson. Small, ascending or decumbent ; flowers smaller, 

 on shorter pedicels (rarely 2'' long), the sepals and pod 1-1^'' long; seeds 

 wingless, usually ])apillose. — Coast of N. H. and Mass. 



3. B. borealis, Watson. Diffusely branched, glabrous ; pedicels usually 

 2-4'' long; petals white; pod ovate, 2" long, about twice longer than the 

 sepals ; seeds usually wingless, smooth or nearly so. (Tissa salina, Britt.) — 

 On the coast, E. Maine to Labrador. 



12. SPERGULA, L. Spurrey. 



Stamens 5 or 10. Styles 5. The 5 valves of the pod opposite the sepals. 

 Embryo spirally annular. Leaves in whorls. Otherwise as in Buda. (>iame 

 from spar (JO, to scatter, from the seeds.) 



S. ARVEKSis, L. (Corn Spurrev.) Annual; leaves numerous in the 

 whorls, thread-shaped (1 -2' long) ; stipules minute ; flowers white, in a stalked 

 panicled cyme ; seeds rough. — Grain-fields. (Adv. from Eu.) 



Order 16. PORTULACACE^. (Purslane Family.) 



Herbs, with succulent leaves, and regular but unsymmetrical flowers; 

 viz., sepals fewer than the petals; the stamens opposite the petals when of 

 the same number, but often indefinite, otherwise nearly as duckweeds. — 

 Sepals 2. Petals 5, or sometimes none. Stamens mostly 5-20. Styles 

 2-8, united below, or distinct, stigmatic along the inside. Pod 1-celled, 

 with few or many campylotropous seeds rising on stalks from the base. 

 Embryo curved around mealy albumen. — Insipid and innocent herbs, 

 with entire leaves. Corolla opening only in sunshine, mostly ephemeral, 

 then shrivelling. 



1. Portulaca. Stamens 7 - 20, on the partly adherent calyx Pod opening by a lid. 



2. Talinum. Stamens more numerous than the petals, hypogj'noiis Calyx deciduous. 



Pod many-seeded. 



3. Claytonia. Stamens as many as the hypogynous petals, and attached to theii" base. 



Calyx persi.stent. Pod 3 - 6-seeded. 



1. PORTULACA, Tourn Purslane. 



Calyx 2-cleft ; the tube cohering with the ovary below. Petals 5, rarely 6, 

 inserted on the calyx with the 7-20 stamens, fugacious. Style mostly 3-8- 

 parted. Pod 1-celled, globular, many-seeded, opening transversely, the upper 

 part (with the upper part of the calyx) separating as a lid. — Fleshy annuals, 

 with mostly scattered leaves. (An old Latin name, of unknown meaning.) 



P olerXcea, L. (Common Pl'rslane.) Prostrate, very smooth; leaves 

 obovate or wedge-form ; flowers sessile (opening only in sunny mornings) ; 

 sepals keeled; ])etals pale yellow; stamens 7-12; style deeply 5-6-parted; 

 flower-bud flat and acute. — Cultivated and waste grounds ; common. Seem- 

 ingly indigenous west and southwestward. (Nat. from Eu.) 



1. P. retusa, Engelm. Leaves often retuse; calyx-lobes obtuse in the 

 bud; petals small or minute; style shorter, 3- 4-cleft; seeds larger, sharply 



