Portulaca.'] PORTULACACEAE. 65 



1. POLYCARPAEA SPICATA, W. & A.; F. B. T. i. 246; Wt. Ic. t. 

 510. 



Tuticorin in Tinnevelly. 



2. POLYCARPAEA CORYMBOSA, Lam. ; F. B. I. i. 245 ; Wt. Tc. t. 712 ; 

 W. & A. 358. P. spadicea, Lam. ; W. & A. 357. 



Fields, waste places and sandy river banks in most dry 

 Districts, especially in the Deccan and Carnatic ; more 

 scarce on the W. Coast. 



3. POLYCARPAEA AUREA, W. & A. P. corymbosa, var. aurea, 

 Wt. 111. ii. 44, t. 110 ; F. B. I. i. 245. 



Rocky places in the Deccan Hills, Guntur, Kurnool, 

 Bellary, Cuddapah, N. Arcot, Chingleput, at 2,000 to 

 4,000 ft. 



4. POLYCARPAEA DIFFUSA, W. & A. ; F. B. I. i. 245; Wt. 111. ii. 

 44. 



Near Tuticorin in Tinnevelly. 



Family XYIII. PORTULACACEAE. 



Herbs or shrubs, usually succulent and glabrous. Leaves 

 entire ; stipules scarious or setose. Flowers regular, hermaphro- 

 dite. Sepals 2, imbricate. Petals 4-5, free or connate at the 

 base, imbricate, fugacious. Stamens 4 or indefinite ; filaments 

 slender; anthers 2-celled. Ovary 1-celled, free or half-inferior; 

 style 2-8-fid ; ovules 2 or many, from the base of the ovary or 

 from a central column. Capsule dehiscing in 2-8 valves or 

 circumsciss, rarely indehiscent. Seeds 1 or more, usually with 

 a curved embryo surrounding a mealy albumen. 



Diffuse herbs, with small terminal solitary or clustered yellow flowers 

 surrounded by a whorl of leaves; ovary half-adnate ...1. Portulaca. 

 Erect shrubby plants, with terminal panicles of moderate-sized purple 

 flowers; ovary free 2. Talinum. 



1. Portulaca, Linn. 



Herbs, usually succulent. Leaves with scaly or hairy stipules. 

 Flowers terminal, surrounded by a whorl of leaves. Sepals joined 

 below, free part deciduous. Petals 4-6. Ovary half-inferior ; 

 style 3-8-fid ; ovules numerous. Capsule circumsciss, crustaceous. 

 Seeds many, reniform. 



