80 PURSLANE FAMILY. 



1. PORTULACA. PUHSLANE. (Old r>;\tiii name of unknown mean- 

 ing.) Flowering all summer. (Lessons, Figs. 272, 40-4.) ® 



P. o/eracea, Linn. Commom P. Very smooth, with prostrate stems, 

 obovate or wedge-shaped leaves, and small, sessile flowers opening only in 

 bright sunshine and for a short time ; the petals pale yellow. The com- 

 monest garden weed, sometimes used as a pot-herb. There is a cultivated 

 form with much stronger and erect stems, and larger and lighter-colored 

 leavfs, excellent as a pot-herb. Ku. 



P. grandiflbra, Lindl. Rusk Moss. Cult, from S. Amer. and thriving 

 in the hottest sand, bearing large and handsome red, yellow, or white 

 flowers, single or double, and short terete leaves. 



2. TALINUM. (Name unexplained.) One wild species in some 

 places. 



T. teretif61iuin, Pursh. Tekete-leaved T. Low and smooth, with 

 thick and ticsliy root ; stems short ; leaves crowded, linear, terete ; peduncle 

 slender, naked, many-flowered ; petals pink ; style eciualing stamens. 

 ]{ocks or sands I'enn., W. and S. Flowering all summer. 21 



3. .CALANDRINIA. (Named for a Swiss botanist, Calaudrini.) 

 Cultivated for ornament in gardens ; flowering all summer. 



« Erect (fo-l.l'-^ high). 



C. discolor, .Schrad. Very glabrous, making a rosette of fleshy spatu- 

 late leaves at the root (these glaucous above and tinged with purple 

 beneath), and sending up a naked flower-.stem, bearing a raceme of large, 

 rose-purplo flowers, 2' in diameter. Cult, as an annual, from Chile. 



C. grandifldra, Lindl. Somewhat woody ; leaves mostly radical, fleshy, 

 rhomboid ; rosy flowers, 2' diameter, in a loose, naked, raceme. A half- 

 hardy annual from Chile. 



* * Lnir (()' nr Ifiss) (Old sjireadiiig. 



C. Menziesii, Hook. Mexzies' C. Leafy -.stemmed ; leaves bright 

 green and tender, lance-spatulate ; crimson flowers nearly 1' broad, in a 

 short, leafy raceme. Oregon and California. ® 



C. umbel/ata, DC. Leaves mostly radical, linear, acute, hairy ; flowers 

 ])ui'j>le-crinis(iii, in a close corymb, 1' diameter. (2) Chile ; half-hardy. 



4. CLAYTONIA. SPRINCx BEAUTY. (Named for J„lin Clauton, 

 an early botanist in Virginia.) Low herbs, in rich land. 



* Stem Hi'mplc from a round tuber ; leaves separate. 11 



C. Virginica. Linn. Si'i;iN<i Be.mtv. Leaves linear-lanceolate; 

 flowers rose-color with pink veins. One of the prettiest of early spring 

 flowers. 



C. Caroliniana, Michx. Broauer-leaved S. Smaller than the pre- 

 ceding, with oblong-.spatulate or lance-oblong leaves only 1' or 2' long. 

 In rich woods; commonest N. and alDug the Alleghanies. 



* * Boot fibrous; leaves connate uudcr the cluster of small, u-Jiitish 

 fimrers. 



C. perfoliata, Donn. From the Pacific Coast and Mexico and Cuba, 

 with long-.spatulate root-leaves, is grown somewhat as a salad plant. 



