214 HALORAGE^E. Ammannia. 



1. Ammannia. Calyx barely 4-angled, short. Stamens 4 or 8. Capsule globular. Leaves 



opposite. 



2. Lythrum. Calyx striate, cylindrical. Petals commonly 6 (4 to 7), and stamens as many or 



sometimes twice as many. Capsule oblong or cylindraceous. 



1. AMMANNIA, Houston. 



Calyx campanulate or short-tubular, usually 4-angled, 4-toothed, and with as 

 many intermediate small tooth-like processes. Petals as many, small and fugacious, 

 or none. Stamens usually 4. Capsule enclosed in the calyx, nearly globular, 

 mostly 4-celled. Low and smooth annuals ; stems 4-angled ; leaves opposite, ses- 

 sile ; flowers small, axillary. 



A genus of about 30 species, inhabiting swamps and wet places. Only 4 species are found in 

 the United States, of which the following is of wide range. 



1. A. latifolia, Linn. Stems erect, a foot or two high, with a few spreading 

 branches : leaves linear-lanceolate, 1 to 3 inches long, with a broad auricled base, 

 acute : flowers 1 to 5 in each axil, mostly closely sessile : calyx oblong, 1 ^ lines 

 long, becoming 2 lines in diameter in fruit : stamens sometimes 8 : style variable in 

 length, as well as the h' laments. 



Banks of Cache Creek (Bolander) ; Carson Valley, Nevada ( Watson) ; on the Lower Colo- 

 rado (Blake) ; on Milk Eiver, N. Montana (Sucklcy) ; also in the Southern Atlantic States, the 

 West Indies and Brazil. 



2. LYTHRUM, Linn. LOOSESTRIFE. 



Calyx cylindrical, striate, 4 - 7-toothed, with as many intermediate tooth-like 

 processes. Petals 4 to 7, oblong-obovate, often conspicuous and sometimes unequal. 

 Stamens as many or twice as many. Capsule oblong, 2-celled. Erect slender 

 herbs (rarely woody at base) ; stems angled ; leaves linear-oblong or lanceolate, 

 alternate, opposite, or rarely whorled; flowers axillary, mostly solitary. 



A small genus, widely distributed over the world. Four or five species are found in the United 

 States, one of which is polymorphous and extends across the continent. 



1. L. alatum, Pursh. Biennial or perennial, herbaceous, with straight virgate 

 branches, a foot or two high, glabrous ; the stems angled and narrowly margined : 

 leaves oblong-ovate to narrowly lanceolate, sessile, acute, an inch long or less, the 

 upper scarcely exceeding the flowers ; the lowest opposite, the rest usually scattered : 

 flowers solitary, sessile or shortly pedicelled : calyx about 3 lines long, deeply fur- 

 rowed, the teeth usually little exceeding the intermediate processes : petals 6, deep 

 purple, 2 lines long : stamens 6 : capsule narrow, nearly as long as the calyx. 



Var. linearifolium, Gray. Leaves linear, the lower cauline ones only some- 

 times lanceolate. PI. Lindh. ii. 188. L. Calif ornicum, Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 482. 

 L. lineare, Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 343, not Linn. 



The variety only has been found in California, from Napa Valley to San Diego, and ranging 

 eastward to New Mexico. The species is very variable, and extends from the northern Atlantic 

 States to Mexico. 



ORDER XXXVIII. HALORAGE^J. 



Aquatic herbs (as to the N. American representatives), with inconspicuous and 

 often apetalous flowers sessile in the axil of leaves or bracts, calyx adnate to the 

 ovary in the fertile ones, and its limb then short and almost entire or obsolete ; the 

 fruit indehiscent and nut-like, 1 - 4-celled, with a single anatropous seed suspended 

 from the summit of each cell ; embryo in the axis of copious albumen, its cotyledons 



