182 LYTUUACE^. (loosestrife FAMILY.) 



* * Anlhrrs nhlonrj, strnif/ht, iritliout any spur: flowers fetv, se«s(7e. 

 3. R. eilidsa, Michx. Stem ^^qllin•c, f;liibious; leaves broaiilj ovate, 

 ciliate with low^ bristles; ealyx <,dabrous. — Maryland and southward. 



Oiii>Eii 41. L,YTIIBACE^. (Loosestrife Family.) 



Herbs, with mostly opposite entire leaves, no stipules, the calyx enclosing 

 but free from the 1 -i-celled many-seeded ovary and membranous pod, and 

 hearing the 4-7 deciduous petals and 4-14 stamens on its throat ; the latter 

 lower down. Style 1 : stigma capitate, or rarely 2-lobed. — Flowers axillary 

 or whorled, rarely irregular, perfect, souietinies dimorphous or even tri- 

 morphous, those on dill'erent plants with filaments and style reciprocally 

 longer and shorter. Petals sometimes wanting. Pod often 1-celled by 

 the early breaking away of the thin partitions : placentte in the axis. 

 Seeds anatropous, without albumen. — Branches usually 4-sided. 



* Flowers rej^ukr, or nearly so. 



1. Amman Ilia. Calyx sliort, 4-:iii^led. not striate. Petals 4. or none. Stamens 4, rarely 2. 



2. Lytliruiii. Calyx tubular-cyliiiilrioal, striate. I'eUils 5-7. Stamens 5 - 14. 



3. IVessea. Calyx sliurt-campauulate or liemispherical. Stamens 10 - 14, e.xserted. 



* * Flowers irregular : petals unequal. 



4. Cuphea. Calyx spurred or enlarged on one side at the base. Stamens 12. 



1. AMMANNIA, Houston. Ammaxnia. 



Calyx globular or bell-shaped, 4-angled, 4-toothed, usually with a little horn- 

 shaped appendage at each sinus. Petals 4 (purplish), small and deciduous, 

 sometimes wanting. Stamens 4, rarely 2, sliort. Pod globular, 2 - 4eclled. 

 — Low and inconspicuous smooth herbs, with opposite narrow leaves, and small 

 greenish flowers in their axils, produced all summer. (Named after Paul 

 Ammann, a German botanist anterior to Linna'us.) 



§ 1. Calyx with manifest tooth-like or horn-shaped appendnyes at the sinuses: pod 4- 

 cilUd : plants of low or ivet ground ; ours are annwils. 



1. A. htiniilis, Michx. Leaves tapering at the base or into a short petiole, 

 linear-oblanceolate or somewhat spatulate ; flowers solitary or 3 together in the 

 axils of the leaves, sessile ; style very short. — Massachusetts to Michigan, 

 Illinois and southward. 



2. A. Iatif61ia, L. Leaves linear-laiireolntc (2' -.3' long), irilh a hrond 

 auricled sessile base; style sometimes very short, sometimes slender. — Oliio, 

 Illinois, and southward. Ship-yards, I'luladeliihia, an immigrant from thu 

 south, C. F. Parker. 



§ 2. HYPOBRYCHIA, M. A. Curtis. Appendages at the. sinuses of the calyx 

 mere callous jmints or none : petals none : pod 2<elled. 



3. A. Nuttallii, Gray. Submersed aquatic, or sometimes terrestrial, 

 rooting in the mud ; leaves linear, when immersed elongated, thin, and closely 

 sessile by a broad base, when out of water shorter and contracted at the base ; 

 flowers mostly solitary in the axils, sessile, small ; calyx with broad triangular 

 lobes; style very short. (Pe'plis diandra, iV«<^, but stamens usually 4. Hypo- 



