POBTULACACEAE (PURSLANE FAMILY) 



2. Claytonia. Petals and somewhat perigynous stamens 5, equal. Ovules about 8. Peren- 

 nials with conns or thick caudex. 



* * Calyx free, deciduous. 



8. Talinum. Stamens hypogynous, usually more numerous than the petals. Pod many- 

 seeded. 



* * * Calyx partly adnate to the ovary. 



4. Portulaca. Stamens 7-20, perigynous. Pod opening by a lid to which the calyx-lobes are 

 attached. 



1. M6NTIA [Mich.] L. 



Sepals 2, persistent. Petals 3-5, usually a little unequal and often connate 

 at the base. Stamens as many, adhering to the base of the petals. Style- 

 branches 3. Ovules few. Seeds 2-3. Annuals or fibrous-rooted sonietimss 

 rhizomatose or stoloniferous perennials, ours with opposite leaves. (Named 

 for Professor Giuseppe Monti of Bologna.) 



1. M. fontana L. (BLINKS.) Small, procumbent, rooting at the nodes ; 

 leaves obovate to linear-spatulate, 3-12 mm. long ; flowers minute ; petals 3, 

 white, scarcely exceeding the calyx, connate at base, unequal, the tube slit 

 down on one side ; few-flowered racemes terminal or axillary. Wet places, 

 along the coast, islands near Mt. Desert, Me. (Rand, Itedfield), to Lab. ; and 

 on the Pacific Slope. (Eurasia.) 



2. M. Chamissoi (Ledeb.) Durand & Jackson. Procumbent or ascending, 

 propagating by slender bulblet-bearing runners ; leaves several pairs, oblong- 

 spatulate, 2.5-5 cm. long ; petals 5, pale rose-color, much exceeding the calyx. 

 (Claytonia Chamissonis Esch.) Moist ground, Minn. ; also Rocky Mts., etc. 



3. M. PEKFOLIATA (Donn) Howell, with single pair of cauline leaves con- 

 nate into a suborbicular disk about the stem, is said to be established near 

 Painesville, O. (Introd. from w. N. A.) 



2. CLAYT6NIA [Gronov.] L. SPRING BEAUTY 



Sepals 2, ovate, free, persistent. Stamens 5, adhering to the short claws of 

 the petals. Style 3-cleft at the apex. Pod 1-celled, 3-valved, 3-6-seeded. 

 Perennials, our two species sending up simple stems in early spring from a small 

 deep tuber, bearing a pair of opposite leaves, and a loose raceme of pretty flow- 

 ers. Corolla rose-color with deeper veins, opening for more than one day ! 

 (Named in honor of Dr. John Clayton, one of our earliest botanists, who con- 

 tributed to Gronovius the materials for the Flora Virginica.) 



1. C. virginica L. Leaves linear-lanceolate, elongated (7-15 cm. long). 

 Moist open woods, N. S. to Sask., and southw. ; common, especially westw. and 

 southw. 



2. C. caroliniana Michx. Flowers rather smaller and fewer; leaves xjmtu- 

 late-oblong or oval-lanceolate (2.5-5 cm. long). N. S. to Sask. and Minn., and 

 southw. along the Alleghenies. 



3. TALINUM Adans. 



Sepals 2, distinct and free, deciduous. Petals 5, ephemeral. Stamens 6-oc. 

 Style 3-lobed at the apex. Pod 3-celled at the base when young, 3-valved, with 

 many seeds on a globular stalked placenta. Ours perennials, subscapose from 

 a thickish rootstock. Leaves linear, subterete, much exceeded by the peduncles. 

 Flowers white or rose-colored, cymose. (Derivation obscure.) 



1. T. parviflbrum Nutt. 1'ctals :>. pale, _'-:! nun. long; stamens 5 ; capsule 

 ovoid. PipeStOne City, Minn. ( Slit'Uhni) to Ark., and southwest w. 



2. T. teretifblium 1'ursh. Petals :>, roseate, K mm. l<>nu 



anthers nhlmj ; lolies of the stiunia very short ; capsule globose. --Serpentine 

 and rarely other rucks, Pa. to Ind., Minn., and southw. June-Aug. 



3. T. rugosp6rmum Holzinger. Biennial (?), in appearance closely like the 



