ILLUSTRATED FLORA. 



VOL. II. 



Family 20. PORTULACACEAE Reichenb. Consp. 161. 1828. 



PURSLANE FAMILY. 



Herbs, generally fleshy or succulent, rarely somewhat woody, with alternate 

 or opposite leaves, and regular perfect but unsymmetrical flowers. Sepals com- 

 monly 2 (rarely 5). Petals 4 or 5, rarely more, hypogynous, entire or emar- 

 ginate, imbricated. Stamens hypogynous, equal in number to the petals or 

 fewer, rarely more; filaments filiform; anthers 2-celled, longitudinally dehis- 

 cent. Ovary i -celled; style 2-3-cleft or 2-3-divided, the divisions stigmatic 

 on the inner side; ovules 2-00 , amphitropous. Capsule membranous or crusta- 

 ceous, circumscissile, or dehiscent by 3 valves. Seeds 2-00 , reniform-globose 

 or compressed; embryo curved. 



About 150 species, mostly natives of America. 



Calyx free from the ovary; capsule 3-valved. 



Seeds numerous; stamens 5- v. . i. Tali num. 



Seeds not more than 6: stamens 2-5. 



Petals distinct or very nearly so, and stamens 5 in our species. 

 Petals united into a short tube at the base; stamens 2 or 3. 

 Calyx partly adnate to the ovary; capsule circumscissile. 



2. Clay ton ia. 



3. Montia, 



4. Portnlaca. 



i. TALINUM Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 245. 1763. 



Fleshy glabrous erect or ascending, perennial or annual herbs, with scapose or leafy 

 stems, alternate terete or flat exstipulate leaves (terete and clustered at the base in the fol- 

 lowing species I, and mainly cymose racemose or panicled flowers. Sepals 2, ovate. Petals 

 5, hypogynous, fugacious. Stamens as many as or more numerous than the petals and ad- 

 herent to their bases. Ovary many-ovuled; style 3-lobed or 3-cleft. Capsule ovoid, oval or 

 globose, 3-valved. Seeds numerous, borne on a central globose placenta. [Aboriginal 

 name* of a Senegal species.] 



A genus of about 12 species, all but i or 2 natives of America. In addition to the following, 

 about 4 others occur in the western and southwestern t"nited States. 

 l-'lo\vers 5"-S" broad; sepals deciduous. 



Stamens 10-30; capsule globose. 



Stamens only 5; capsule oval. 

 I : lo\vers io"-i5" broad; sepals persistent. 



i. Talinum teretifolium Pursh. Fame- 

 flower. (Fig. 1426.) 



Talinum terelifolium Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 365. 1814. 



Perennial, erect, 4 / -i2 / high, leafy at the base. 

 Leaves linear, terete, Yz'-i' long, about \" wide, the 

 base broadened and prolonged posteriorly; scape-like 

 peduncles 1-5, terminal, branched, leafless, slender, 

 bracted at the nodes, 3'-6' long; cymes terminal, loose, 

 the branches ascending or divaricate; flowers pink, 6"- 

 8" broad, opening for a day; sepals membranous, 

 deciduous, ovate, obtuse, 2" long, about half the length 

 of the petals; stamens 10-30; style as long as the sta- 

 mens ; capsule globose, 2" in diameter; bracts of the 

 cyme ovate or ovate-lanceolate, i" long, prolonged 

 posteriorly. 



On dry rocks, Chester count}', Pa., to Minnesota, south 

 to Georgia and Texas. Ascends to 3800 ft. in North Caro- 

 lina. May-Aug. 



T. teretifolium. 

 T. pari'ijloi'inii. 

 T. calycinum. 



