PURSLANE FAMILV. ( D 



9. SAGINA, PEAULAVORT. (Latin: sar/ina, fattening; of no appli- 

 cation to these plants.) Small and insignificant plants, only two 

 common. 



S. prociimbens, Liini. Sniootli ; parts of the fiower in fours as a 

 rule; the itetals (sometimes 0) shorter than the ovate olituse sepals. 

 Moist ])laces. N. ® or 2/ 



S. deciimbens, 'I'orr. 6^. (iray. Pedicels, calyx, and margins of iipper 

 leaves at first glandulai- jiuhescent ; parts of the flower in fives; pod 

 nearly twice length of iieutish sepals. Mass. to Mo., and common S. ® 



10. BUDA, SAND SPURREY. (After the city of this name prob- 

 ably.) Small herlis with scaly-membranaceous stipules, with red or 

 white flowers, mostly near the seacoast. Known also as Spergularia 

 and Tissa. ® 2/ ? 



B. rilbra. Dumort. Smoothish, prostrate in tufts ; leaves thread-shaped ; 

 pod and pink-red corolla hardly equaling or exceeding the calyx ; seeds 

 rouuh, wingless, half-obovate. Common in sand or gravel, along roads 

 and paths, E., quite away from salt water. 



B. marina, Dumort. Larger and more fleshy, only in brackish sands ; 

 with short pedicels, pale corolla ; pod longer than the calyx, and rough, 

 obovate-rounded (narrow-winged or wingless) seeds. Variable. 



11. SPERGULA, SPURREY. (Latin : spargo, scatter, i.e. its 

 seeds.) 



5. arvensis, Liim. Coisx S. Stems 1 " or so high, bearing several 

 thread-shaped leaves in the whorls, and terminating in a panicle of white 

 flowers. A weed in grainfields ; cult, ni Eu. as a forage plant for 

 sheep. 



XVII. PORTULACACEiE, PURSLANE FAMILY. 



Succulent-leaved herbs, with 2 sepals and n petals, the 

 stamens sometimes many, sometimes few and then one before 

 each petal; ovary 1-celled, becoming a pod, with many or few^ 

 kidney-shaped seeds on a central placenta, or on slender seed- 

 stalks from the base. Seeds as in the Pink Family. 



» stamens more numerous than the petals ; flowers opening only once, in sunshine. 



1. POKTULACA. Style cleft into several slender divisions. Lower p.art of the ovary and 



many-seeded pod united witli the bottom of the ealyx ; the upper part when mature 

 fallinp: off as a lid. Leafy and lirancliing, low and spreading, with tieshy, sessile leaves. 



2. TALINITM. Style .3-lobed at the summit. Caly.x free from the ovary, deciduous. Pod 



3-valved, many-seeded. 



3. CALANDUINLV. Style 3-cleft at the summit. Caly.x free from the ovary, jiersistent, 



inelosiiiir the 3-valved many-seeded jiod. 



* » Stamens U. one attached to the base of each petal ; flowers opening for more than 

 one day. 



4. CLAYTONIA. Style 3-cleft at the summit. Oaly.v persistent, free from the few-seeded 



pod. Low smooth herbs, ours producing' only a pair of stem leaves and a short. 



raceme nf Mi)wer.<. Stem simple. nftrM froiu n round tuber. 



