74 PORTULACACE^E. Portulaca. 



Species about 16, belonging to warm and tropical regions, chiefly American, a few widely 

 naturalized as weeds in temperate countries. 



1. P. oleracea, Linn. Prostrate, glabrous, purplish : leaves flat, obovate to 

 spatulate, rounded at the summit : sepals acute, carinate : petals yellow, 1| to 2 lines 

 long : stigmas 5 : capsule 3 to 5 lines long : seeds black, dull, finely tuberculate. 



The common Purslane, from Europe, naturalized as a weed in gardens and cultivated grounds. 



2. P. retusa, Engelm. Like the last, but greener and the stems more ascending, 

 sometimes covering a space several feet in diameter : leaves usually smaller : sepals 

 obtuse, broadly carinate-winged : petals yellow : stigmas 3 or 4 : capsule 2| or 3 

 lines long, broader in proportion : seeds more strongly tuberculate. PL Lindh. 

 154 ; Schlecht. in Bot. Zeit. xi. 739. 



Along the Colorado (Newberry) and eastward to Texas. 



3. P. pilosa, Linn. Prostrate or ascending, with tufts of long hairs in the axils 

 of the linear more or less terete leaves : sepals membranaceous, not keeled, acute : 

 petals bright red, 2 or 3 lines long : stamens 15 to 25 : stigmas 5 or 6 : seeds black, 

 tuberculate. Engelm. 1. c. 155 ; Lincll. Bot. Eeg. t. 792 ; Eohrb. in Mart. FL Bras. 

 xiv. 2 303. 



Dry sandy soil near Soda Springs on the Upper Sacramento (Brewer), which is the only reported 

 Californian locality : New Mexico, Texas, and through Tropical America to Brazil. 



P. GRANDIFLORA, Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 2885, from Brazil, is much cultivated for its large bright 

 flowers of va/ious colors, and sometimes escapes from gardens. Its leaves are terete, stamens 

 numerous, and the seeds ash-colored and shining. 



2. CALANDBINIA, HBK. 



Sepals 2, green, persistent. Petals mostly 5 (3 to 10). Stamens 5 to 15, indef- 

 inite. Ovary free, many-ovuled : style 3-cleft, short. Capsule globose or ovoid, 

 membranaceous, 3-valved. Seeds black, usually shining, smooth or minutely tuber- 

 culate. Low succulent herbs ; with alternate or radical leaves, and purplish ephem- 

 eral flowers in bracteate racemes or panicles, or few upon short scape-like stems. 



A genus of about 60 species, all South American and Australian, with the exception of the fol- 

 lowing. The closely allied genus Talimtm, differing in its deciduous sepals and carunculate 

 seeds, has half a dozen or more species chiefly eastward or south of the Rocky Mountains, a single 

 one (T. spinescens, Torr.) occurring in Washington Territory. None are likely to be found in 

 California. 



* Caulescent annuals, of the plains and foot-hills : flowers in racemes : petals 3 to 5 : 



seeds minutely tuberculate. 



1 . C. Menziesii, Hook, Glabrous or slightly pubescent, branching from the 

 base, the stems ascending : leaves linear to oblanceolate, the lower on slender 

 petioles, 1 to 3 inches long : racemes simple ; peduncles erect or ascending : sepals 

 keeled, the calyx 4-angled in bud : petals broadly obovate, red to purple, 2 to 6 lines 

 long : capsule ovate, acute or acuminate, 2 to 4 lines long, about equalling or a 

 little exceeding the ovate acute or acuminate sepals : seeds shining, minutely tuber- 

 culate, to 1 line broad. Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 197. Talinum Menziesii, Hook. 

 Fl. i. 223, t. 70. C. speciosa, Lindl. Bot. Reg. xix. t. 1598. 



Abundant in winter and early spring, in the valleys and on sunny hillsides, from Vancouver 

 Island to Lower California. Very variable in height, and in the size and color of the flowers. 

 Cattle are fond of it. 



2. C. Breweri, Watson. Much resembling the last : peduncles divaricately 

 spreading or deflexed : sepals triangular-ovate : capsule 4 to 5 lines long, conical, 

 blunt, exceeding the sepals : seeds half a line broad, not shining, more strongly 

 tuberculate. Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 124. C. Menziesii, var. macrocarpa, Gray in 

 Proc. Calif. Acad. iii. 102. 



