30 PLANTS OIF BERMUDA. 



ternate, oval or ovate, crenate or bluntly serrate on margin ; flowers 

 pendulous on slender stalks, in termnial panicles; calyx tubular, 

 inflated, four-tootlied ; corolla four-toothed, constricted above 

 ovaries, then bell- shaped protruding from calyx; stamens eight, 

 adhering to the corolla ; ovaries four, ovules numerous. A native 

 of Asia, now generally found as a weed in warm countries, probably 

 introduced as a curiosity. The leaves or leaflets, when placed 

 upon moist earth, produce rootlets and young plants at the crena- 

 tures: sometimes a leaf may be picked up v»ith a dozen young 

 plants- thus formed around it; this peculiarity appears to have 

 rendered the usual method of propagation unnecessary, as I have 

 never seen the seed at maturity, either here or elsewhere. Common 

 as a weed throughout Bermuda. Flowers one and a half inches 

 long, green and purple ; January to May. 



Very similar in habit to the above, and also possessing viviparous 

 leaves, is another plant of this order — Verea crenata — common in 

 gardens only ; its loaves are simple, fleshy, doubly crenate ; flowers 

 erect, in dense cymes, yellow, half -inch in length ; March. 



The Natural Order Saxifragaceca is very nearly allied to the fore- 

 going, and is chiefly distinguished by the absence of hypogynous 

 scales. It only contributes, in these Islands, a few insignificant 

 garden plants — Saxifraga sarmentosa, Hgdraugias, and a shrub, 

 Deutzia scahra, 



Nat : Orel : 28 Fortidacacec^. 



Herbs with succulent, entire leaves, and usually prostrate, diffuse 

 stems ; calyx two to five partite ; petals four to five, imbricate in 

 bud, or none ; stamens five to twelve, inserted into base of calyx ; 

 ovary superior, one -celled ; styles three to five partite ; fruit one to 

 three celled, opening transversely, many-seeded. 



I. rOKTULACA. 



Cahjx two-partite ; petals four to six ; capsule one-celled. 



1. Z. olcracca (Purslane). An annual, prostrate plant ; stems 

 spreading, brittle ; leaves fleshy, nearly opposite, obovate or sx)oou- 

 shapod, broadly rounded at top and tapering at base into jointed 

 petiole, pellucid with watery dots, obscurel}^ ciliate on margins ; 

 flowers sessile, solitary, axillary or clustered, terminal ; calj^x-tube 

 persistent, limb two-i)artite, keeled deciduous ; petals five, emargi- 

 nate ; stamens six to twelve ; stjdes five-partite ; capsule globular, 

 one-celled, cut across, the lid-like tops falling ofi; at maturity ; 

 seeds numerous. Distribution general in temperate and tropical 

 countries ; habitat, a weed everywhere ; sometimes eaten as a 

 salad. Flowers yellow ; nearly all the year round. 



I'orliilaca 2nlvsa, a closely -allied species, will frequently be seen in 

 gardens ; its habit is very similar, the leaves about an iuch in 

 length, almost cylindrical and x-)ointed, the axils, and around the 

 llower-clusters, woolly, and the flowers pink. 



II. SESUVIUM. 



Calyx ficc-partiie ; petals none ; capsule three to five celled. 



