08 MALVACIi^. (mallow FAMILY.) 



1. P. OLERACEA, L. (CoMMON PuRSLANE.) Prostrate, very smooth; 

 leaves obovate or wedge-form ; flowers sessile (opening only in sunny morn- 

 ings) ; sepals keeled; petals pale yellow; stamens 7-12; style deeply 5-G- 

 partcd ; flower-biul flat and acute. — Cultivated and waste grounds : eommon. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



P. RETUSA, Engelm., closely resembling the common Purslane, is indigenous 

 west of the Mississippi. 



P. grasdifl6ra, with terete leaves and showy flowers, cult, for ornament, 

 begins to be spontaneous around gardens. 



3. TALiNUM, Adans. Talinum. 



Sepals 2, distinct and free, deciduous. Petals 5, ephemeral. Stamens 10- 

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

 with many seeds on a globular staMced placenta. (Derivation obscure.) 



1. T. teretif61ium, Pursh. Leafy stems low, tuberous at the base; 

 leaves linear, cylindrical; peduncle long (3'-G') and naked, bearing an open 

 cyme of ])ink flowers (3' broad); stamens 15-20. U — Serpentine rocks, 

 Westchester, Pcnn., Falls of St. Croix River, Wisconsin, and southward. 

 June - Aug. 



4. CLAYTONIA, L. Sprixg-Beaittt. 



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

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

 Our two species are perennials, sending up simple stems in early spring from a 

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

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

 (Named in honor of Dr. John C/ai/ton, one of our earliest botanists, who con- 

 tributed to Oronovius the materials for the Flora Virginica.) 



1. C. Virginica, L. Leaves linear-lanceolate, elongated (3' -6' long).— 

 Moist open woods : common, especially westward and southward. 



2. C. Caroliniina, Micbx. Leaves .spatulate-oblong or oval-lanccolatc 

 (l'-2' long). — W. New Hampshire, to Wisconsin, and southward along the 

 Alleghanies. 



OuDER 20. MALVACEAE. (Mallow Family.) 



Herbs or shrubs, with altcrriale stipulate leaves and regular /lowers, the 

 calyx valcate and the corolla convolute in the hud, numerous stameiis mona- 

 delphous in a column, which w united at the base icith the short claws of the 

 petals, l-celled anthers, and lidney-shapcd seeds. — Sepals 5, united at the 

 base, persistent, often involucellate with a whorl of brartlets, forminji a 

 sort of exterior calyx. Petals 5. Anthers kidney-shaped, opening along 

 the top. Pistils several, with the ovaries united in a ring, or forming a 

 several-celled pod. Seeds with little albumen : embryo curved, the leafy 

 cotyledons variously doubled up. — Mucilaginous, innocent plants, with 

 tough bark, and palmately-vcined leaves. Flowerstalks with a joint, 

 axillary. 



