MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 435 



hardened perianth. Inhabit barren fields in 

 Europe, Asia, North America, and some extra- 

 tropical regions of the Southern Hemisphere. 



2. FAMILY. Aizoons (Tetragoniacese). Herbs or 



small shrubs ; leaves alternate, exstipulate, 

 succulent ; flowers small, axillary ; perianth 

 3-5-cleft; stamens definite; ovary 2-9-celled; 

 styles equal to cells of ovary ; fruit woody, 

 indehi scent. Occur chiefly in Polynesia, the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and about the Mediter- 

 ranean. 



3. FAMILY. Fig- Marigolds (Mesembryanthemacese). 



Shrubs or herbs, succulent ; leaves opposite ; 

 flowers terminal, showy ; sepals usually five ; 

 petals indefinite, coloured; stamens inde- 

 finite ; ovary usually plurilocular ; stigmas 

 numerous, distinct ; fruit capsular, mostly 

 many-celled, dehiscence stellate. Natives 

 principally of hot plains at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, but a few occur in Southern Europe, 

 Northern Africa, China, Polynesia, and 

 South America. 



4. FAMILY. Basellads (Basellaceae). Herbs or 



shrubs, climbing, often succulent ; leaves al- 

 ternate, exstipulate ; flowers coloured, naked, 

 sessile or stalked ; perianth imbricated, 

 fleshy ; stamens opposite divisions of peri- 

 anth ; ovary free, 1 -celled ; styles several ; 

 fruit enclosed in the membranous or succulent 

 perianth ; seed erect. All tropical plants, ex- 

 cept one doubtful species, which is Siberian. 



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