212 xvn. FRANKENIACE.*. (M. P. Edgeworth.) 



Stamens 4 or more, free, or connate at the base ; anthers versatile, 2-celled. 

 Ovary free, sessile, 1-celled; style slender, stigma 2-5-lobed ; ovules many 

 in two rows, amphitropous with the micropyle below ; funieles slender. 

 Capsule enclosed in the persistent calyx, opening by as many valve.s as there 

 are placentas. Seeds oolong or ovoid, hilum sub-terminal, raphe linear, 

 testa crustaceous ; embryo straight, in the centre of mealy albumen. A 

 single genus, with about 12 species, natives of dry sandy and especially 

 saline tracts. 



1. FRANKLENIA, Linn. 



1. f pulverulenta, Linn.; annual, prostrate, leaves obovate retuse 

 or hoary beneath, calyx glabrous. Boiss. Fl. Orient, i. 779. 



Plains of the PUNJAB and SINDH, on Sola land. DJSTRIB. Eastward to S. Enrope, 

 Senegal, and S. Africa. 



A slender, exceedingly branched, diffuse herb ; branches wiry, leafy, 6-18 in. long. 

 Leaves fa-% in., very shortly petioled. Flower* pink, shorter than the leaves. Calyx 

 cylindric, strongly ribbed. Petals small. 



ORDER XVIII. CARYOPHYLLEJE. (By M. P. Edge worth, F.L.S., 



& J. D. Hooker.) 



Herbs, rarely undershrubs ; branches opposite, usually jointed and 

 thickened at the joints. Leave* opposite, quite entire or serrulate, often 

 connate ; stipules scarious or 0. Flower* rarely 1 -sexual. &pals 4-5, free or 

 connate, imbricate in bud. Petals 4-5, rarely 0, inserted on a hypojmioui 

 ring, rarely perigynous. Skimem 8 or 10, rarely fewer, inserted with the 

 petals ; anthers 2-celled, cells parallel opening lengthwise. Uixk small and 

 annular, or elongated into a gynophore, or broken up into glands. Owry 

 free, 1-celled, or imperfectly 3-5-celled ; styles 2-5, free, or connate 

 into a single style, stigmatose on the inner side ; ovules 2 or many, on 

 slender basal funicles, or with the funicles united into a column, amphi- 

 tropous. Capsule membranous or cruatacoous, rarely fleshy, opening by 

 valves equal in number or double that of the styles, rarely indehiscent or 

 bursting irregularly. Seeds few or many, rarely solitary, renifonn globose 

 obovoid or flattened on one side ; hilum marginal or central, albumen 

 mealy, rarely fleshy ; embryo usually more or less curved and surrounding 

 the albumen, nearly straight in the discoid seeds, cotyledons narrow incum- 

 bent, rarely accumbent. DISTRIB. Cosmopolitan, but chiefly Arctic, Alpine, 

 European and W. Asiatic ; Genera 35, species about 800. 



TRIBE I. Sileneee. Co/yjc gamosepalous, 4-5-lobed. Petals clawed and 

 stamens inserted on an elongate gynophore (rarely sessile). Styles free. 

 Stipules 0. 



Subtribe 1. DIANTHE.E. Capsule dehiscent ; styles 2. Seeds peltate, 

 hilum facial ; embryo straight. 



Calyx bracteate, striate 1. DIANTHUS. 



Calyx bracteate or not, 5-15-nerved 2. TUNICA. 



Subtribe 2. DRYPIDE^E. Capsule indehiscent. Hilum lateral ; embryo 

 curved. 

 Calyx 5-15-nerrcd. Styles 2 .... . . . 3. ACANTHOPUYLHHU 



