POETULACELE 



227 



cumbent, terete, glabrous with tufts of long white hairs springing 

 from the axils of the cotyledons. 



Leaves simple, entire, flat, cauline, alternate, exstipulate, very 

 shortly petiolate, fleshy, glabrous, often tinged with red beneath ; 

 petioles very short, slightly channelled above. 



Nos. 1 and 2. Ovate, obtuse, or faintly mucronate, with small 

 tufts of white hairs or setae in their axils. 



Claytonia perfoliata, Don (fig. 204). 



Fruit a capsule, globose or ovoid, membranous, dehiscing by 

 three valves. 



Seed orbicular-subreniform, much compressed laterally, small) 

 with the auricles on each side of the hilum nearly or quite equal ; 

 testa glabrous, shining, black, crustaceous ; hilum basal in the sinus, 



FIG. 204. Claytonia perfoliata. A, transverse section of seed: C, 

 cotyledons; li, radicle, x 15. B, seedling, showing the thickness of 

 the two cotyledons combined, x C. 



and apparently equidistant from apex of cotyledons and radicle ; 

 funicle partly or wholly persistent. 



Endosperm copious, farinaceous, white, forming a thin layer 

 round the embryo, and a much larger mass inside. 



Embryo much curved round the periphery of the seed, just 

 within a thin layer of endosperm ; cotyledons narrowly linear, 

 obtuse, entire, colourless, accumbent ; radicle cylindrical or terete, 

 obtuse, curved round the periphery of the seed, about as long as the 

 cotyledons. 



Seedling (fig. 205). 



Primary root normal, annual. 



Hypocotyl terete, very short, reddish, glabrous, 2'5 mm. long. 

 Cotyledons linear, elongated, fleshy, flattened, glabrous, pale 



Q 2 



