CARYOPHYLLACBAE. 



[VOL. II. 



20. LOEFLINGIA L,. Sp. PI. 35. 1753. 



Low annual glaudular-puberuleut diffusely branched herbs, with small subulate or 

 setaceous stipulate leaves and very small sessile flowers, solitary or glomerate in the axils. 

 Sepals 5, rigid, keeled, acuminate or awn-tipped, the outer ones commonly with a tooth on 

 each side. Petals 3-5, minute, or wanting. Stamens 3-5, perigynous. Ovary triangular- 

 pyramidal, i-celled, many-ovuled. Capsule 3-valved. Seeds oblong or obovate, attached 

 near their bases; embryo somewhat curved; cotyledons accumbent. [In honor of Peter 

 Loefling, 1729-1756, Swedish traveler.] 



About 5 species, natives of southwestern North Amer- 

 ica, the Mediterranean region and central Asia. Besides 

 the following, 2 others occur in the southwestern United 

 States. 



i. Loeflingia Texana Hook. Texan 

 Loeflingia. (Fig. 1517.) 



Loeflingia Texana Hook. Ic. PI. 3: pi. 275. 1840. 



Finely and densely glandular-puberulent, stems 

 much branched, bushy, 3 / -6 / high, the branches 

 slender, terete, ascending or those bearing flowers 

 secund and recurved. Leaves subulate, 2 // -3 // long, 

 appressed-ascending; flowers less than i" broad; 

 sepals nearly or quite straight, the 3 outer ones or all 

 with a setaceous tooth on each side; petals much 

 shorter than the sepals; stamens usually 3; capsule 

 shorter than the calyx; seeds obovate. 



In dry soil, Nebraska to Texas. April-June. 



21. PARONYCHIA Adans. Fain. PI. 2: 272. 1763. 



Perennial tufted herbs, often woody at the base, with opposite leaves, scarious stipules, 

 and small clustered scarious-bractcd apetalous flowers. Calyx 5-partcd, the se^inc/nts bris- 

 tle-pointed. Stamens 5, inserted at the base of the calyx, sometimes alternate with as in my 

 stamiiuxlia. Ovary ovoid or subglobose, narrowed upward into the style; style 2-cleft 

 at the apex; ovule solitary, amphitropous. Utricle membranous, included in the calyx, 

 i-secded. [Greek, for a disease of the fingers and a plant supposed to cure it.] 



About 40 species, natives of warm and temperate regions. Resides the following about 5 cithers 

 occur in the Southern States, one in the Rocky Mountains, and one in California. 



Awns of the calyx-segments erect. 

 Awns of the calyx-segments divergent. 

 Stipules 2-cleft. 

 Stipules entire. 



Lowest leaves obtuse, uppermost mucronate or bristle-pointed. 

 Leaves all acute, mucronate or bristle -pointed. 



1. P. argyrocomn. 



2. P. sessiliJJora. 



3. P. J 



(. /'. 



i. Paronychia argyrocoma (Michx.) Nutt. 

 Silver Whitlow- wort. (Fig. 1518.) 



Anychia argyrocoma Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. x: 113. 1803. 

 Paronychia argyrocoma Nutt. Gen. i: 160. 1818. 



Stem erect or ascending, much branched, 3 / -8 / high, 

 clothed with silvery appressed scale-like hairs. Leaves 

 linear, i -nerved, acute or mucronate at the apex, pubes- 

 cent or nearly glabrous; stipules silvery-white, scarious, 

 entire, usually shorter than the leaves; flowers in fork- 

 ing cymes, subtended by the large silvery membranous 

 bracts; calyx-segments 2" a^" long, their awns erect, 

 nearly as long as the segments; style filiform, minutely 

 2-cleft at the summit; staminodia minute and much 

 shorter than the filaments or wanting. 



In rocky places, Maine and New Hampshire to Tennessee 

 and Georgia. Ascends to 4200 ft. in North Carolina. Called 

 also Silver Chickweed and Silverhead. July-Sept. 



