Peplis.] SALICARI.E. 69 



the calyx ovate, pointed ; petals roundish or obovate, 3-ribbed 

 with or without lateral veins. E. FL v. ii. p. 272. S. elongella, 

 E. Bot. t. 2277. S. platypetala, E. Bot. t. 2276. 



Abundant on all the limestone mountains in the County of Sligo, 

 and on the Antrim coast. FL May, June. 1. Our Irish plant ex- 

 actly agrees in character with that of S. hypnoides, so abundant on the 

 limestone rocks near Buxton and at Dovedale, in Derbyshire, but does 

 not correspond with the fig. and description of that species in E. Bot. 

 which appears to be S. angustifolia of Haw. in Miss. Nat. In it the 

 leaves of the trailing shoots are undivided, and is, I believe, the plant 

 that grows on Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh. Leaves on the lower 

 part of the procumbent shoots entire or mostly three-cleft, crowded 

 above, where they are also deeply three-cleft ; the middle segment is 

 entire, the two lateral ones are each again divided into two, sometimes 

 three or four less deeply parted segments ; (these characters apply 

 to its appearamce in autumn.) When I first observed this plant, 

 on a hill near Sligo, nearly thirty years ago, in the autumn, I 

 found late single-flowered specimens exactly corresponding with the 

 fig. in E. Bot. of S. elongella ; but plants brought from thence pro- 

 duced in the following year, and ever since, from three to five flowers 

 on each stem. Plants got from Scotland about the same time for S. 

 elongella are in no respect different from it. 



ORD. 22. SALICARUE. Juss. Loosetrife Family. 



Calyx monopetalous ; the lobes with a valve or separate aes- 

 tivation ; their sinuses sometimes lengthened into lobes. Petals 

 inserted between the lobes of the calyx, very deciduous. Sta- 

 mens inserted into the tube of the calyx below the petals, to 

 which they are sometimes equal in number; sometimes they are 

 twice, or even thrice, and four times as numerous ; they are sel- 

 dom four ; anthers innate, 2-celled, opening longitudinally. 

 Ovarium superior, 2-or 4-celled ; style filiform ; stigma usually 

 capitate. Capsule membranous, covered by the calyx, 1 -celled, 

 dehiscing either longitudinally or in an irregular manner. Seeds 

 numerous, small, without albumen, adhering to a central pla- 

 centa ; embryo straight ; radicle turned towards the hilum ; 

 cotyledons flat and leafy. Herbs, rarely shi-ubs. Branches fre- 

 quently 4-cornered. Leaves opposite, seldom alternate, entire, with- 

 out either stipules or glands. Flowers axillary, or in spikes or ra- 

 cemes. 



1. PEPLIS. Linn. Purslane. 



Calyx campanulate, with six large and six alternating small teeth. 

 Petals six, inserted upon the calyx, often wanting. Capsules 

 superior of two cells, and many seeds. Name from TreTrXtov, 

 anciently applied to the genus Portulaca, now to one some- 

 what similar in habit. Hexandria. Monogynia. 



1. P. Portula, Linn. Water Purslane. Flowers axillary, 



