Portulaca. PORTULACACE.E. 73 



depressed annual j with opposite spatulate leaves, large hyaline stipules, and flowers 

 in dense axillary cymose clusters. 



1. A. Cooperi, Torr. & Gray. Slender, glabrous, the stems 2 or 3 inches long : 

 leaves rather thick, veinless, \ to 1 inch long, the alternate ones only half as long, 

 attenuate to a slender base : stipules interpetiolar, ovate or rounded, entire or lacer- 

 ate : calyx 1 to \\ lines long, the tube at length equalling the lobes, apparently 

 5-toothed by the herbaceous bases of the conspicuous white-scarious lobes : filaments 

 very slender, much shorter than the lobes : ovary flattened at the top : utricle equal- 

 ling the tube, bursting irregularly at the apex. Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 331. 



Southeastern California, in the Colorado Desert (Schott) and near Camp Cady (Cooper), growing 

 in dry sand ; also collected in Southern Arizona or Sonora. 



ORDER XVI. PORTULACACE^l. 



More or less succulent herbs, with simple and entire leaves (either opposite or 

 alternate), and regular but unsymmetrical perfect flowers ; the sepals (except in 

 Lewisia) only 2, while the petals are from 2 to 5 or more ; the stamens opposite the 

 petals when of the same number or fewer ; the ovary 1 -celled with few or many 

 campylotropous or amphitropous ovules on a free central placenta, in fruit becoming 

 capsular ; the seeds with a slender embryo curved or coiled on the outside of farina- 

 ceous albumen, as in Caryophyllaceae. Ovary free and the parts of the flower 

 hypogynous, except in Portulaca. Stamens sometimes indefinitely numerous, com- 

 monly adhering to the base of the petals ; these sometimes united at base. Style 



2 - 8-cleft ; the stigmas occupying the inner face of the lobes. Stipules none, or 

 scarious, or reduced to hairs. Flowers open only in sunshine or bright daylight, in 

 many ephemeral, in some opening for two or three days. 



Comprises 15 genera and over 100 species, the greater part American (and many more western 

 than eastern), some in frigid and others in torrid regions, a few widely dispersed over the world. 



* Sepals 2, united below and adherent to the ovary, the free upper portion at length deciduous. 



1. Portulaca. Stamens 7 to 20. Flowers solitary, red or yellow. Capsule opening by a lid. 



* * Sepals 2, distinct, persistent : ovary free. 

 +- Style 3-cleft : capsule 3-valved : sepals equal. 



2. Calandrinia. Stamens more than 5. Petals 5 or more. Seeds mostly smooth and shining. 



3. Claytonia. Stamens 5. Petals 5, equal. Seeds smooth and shining. 



4. Montia. Stamens usually 3. Petals unequal. Seeds dull, tuberculate. 



+- + Style 2-cleft : capsule 2-valved : sepals unequal, hyaline. 



5. Spraguea. Stamens 3. Petals 4. Stems simple, scape-like. 



6. Calyptridium. Stamen 1. Petals 2. Stems branching, leafy. 



* * * Sepals 4 to 8, distinct, much imbricated. 



7. Lewisia. Stamens many. Style 3 - 8-cleft. Petals 8 to 16. Scapes 1 -flowered. 



1. PORTULACA, Tourn. PURSLANE. 



Sepals 2, coherent at base into a tube and adnate to the ovary, the free limb 

 deciduous. Petals 4 to 6. Stamens 7 to 20, perigynous with the petals. Style deeply 



3 - 8-cleft. Capsule opening by a lid. Seeds numerous, small. Fleshy diffuse or 

 ascending annuals ; with entire leaves, and axillary or terminal ephemeral yellow or 

 rose-colored flowers. 



