394 EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



the warmer parts of the world ; except Claytonia. Insipid or 

 slightly bitter : several are used as pot-herbs, as the Purslane. 

 Some are ornamental. The farinaceous root of Lewisia rediviva, 

 a native of dry plains in the interior of Oregon, is an important 

 article of food with the natives. 



739. Ord, Mesembryanthemaceffi (the Fig-Marigold Family). Con- 

 sists of succulent plants, with showy flowers opening only under 

 bright sunshine, containing an indefinite number of petals and sta- 

 mens, and a many -celled and many-seeded capsule ; otherwise 

 much as in Caryophyllacese. The thickened leaves are often 

 oddly shaped. Ex. Mesembryanthemum (Fig-Marigold, Tee- 

 plant) ; the numerous species are chiefly natives of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, flourishing in the most arid situations. 



740. Ord, Malvaceae (the Mallow Family). Herbs, shrubs, or 

 rarely trees. Leaves alternate, palmately veined, furnished with 

 stipules. Flowers regular, generally showy, often with an involu- 

 cel, forming a double calyx. Calyx mostly of five sepals, more 

 or less united at the base, valvate in aestivation. Petals as many 

 as the sepals, convolute in estivation, hypogynous. Stamens in- 

 definite, monadelphous ; inserted with the petals, united with their 

 claws : anthers reniform, one-celled. Pollen hispid. Ovary sev- 

 eral-celled, with the placentee in the axis ; or ovaries several, sep- 

 arate or separable at maturity. Styles as many as the carpels, 

 distinct or united below. Fruit capsular, or the carpels separate 

 or separable. Seeds with little mucilaginous or fleshy albumen. 



Embryo large, with foliaceous cotyledons, variously incurved or 



FIG. 617. The Marsh Mallow (AHhsea officinalis). 618. One of the kidney-shaped one- 

 celled anthers, magnified. 619. The pistils, magnified. 620. Capsule of Hibiscus Moscheutos, 

 with the persistent calyx and involucel. 621. The same, loculicidally dehiscent. 



