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Chapter VII. 



Order VII.— POUTULACE^E. The Purslane Family, 



CuAEACTEE OF THE Ordee. — Herbs, usually glabrous, 

 often succulent, with opposite (rarely alternate) exstipulate 

 (rarely stipulate) leaves, and hermaphrodite flowers. Sepals 

 2 or 3 imbricate. Petals 4 or 5, free or connate to the base, 

 hypogynous, imbricated. Stamens 5 or fewer, often adnate 

 to the base of the petals. Ovary 1-celled. Style more or 



less deeply 2-3-fid, the arms stigmatose on the inner face. 

 Ovules several or many, in the base of the cell. Capsule 

 membranous, with as many valves as styles, and one or many 

 seeds. Seeds witli a crustaceous testa, farinaceous albumen, 

 and terete curved embryo. — Handbook of Ifew Zealand Flora, 

 p. 26. 



!._^A%. 



Description of the Order. 



[OUND in yarious parts of the World ; chiefly, howeyer, in South America, 

 and at the Cape of Good Hope. The jilants always inhahit dry places, 

 and haye a great affinity to Cafyophylle(e. The New Zealand genera 

 are : — (1), Cdaytonia, leayes opjiosite or in pairs ; stamens 5 ; (2), 

 MoNTiA, leayes opposite, stamens 3-5 opposite the petals ; (3), Hector- 

 ELLA, leayes densely imbricate, stamens 5, alternate with the petals. 



The name of the Order signifies " to carry milk," from some of the jilants in it haying 



milky juice. 



GENUS I. 

 CLAYTONIA {Linn.) The Claytonia. 



Geneeic Chaeactke. — Herbs with opposite alternate, 

 or fasciculate leaves, and racemose or solitary flowers. Sepals 

 2, herbaceous. Petals 5, united at the very base, or free. 



Stamens 5, adnate to, and opposite to the petals, 

 ovuled. Capsule 3-valved, 3 or more seeded. 

 New Zealand Flora p. 27. 



Ovary many- 

 Handbook of 



Description, etc. — A large North American genus, of which the only representa- 



tiye found in the Eastern Hemisphere, is C. australasica, described below. 



The genus 



