PEPLIS.] LYTHRARIE^. 155 



plano-convex. DISTRIB. Europe, N. Africa, temp. Asia ; species 3. 

 ETYM. ireirXiov, the old name for Portulaca transferred. 



P. Por'tula, L. ; leaves obovate obtuse, flowers solitary. 

 Moist places, from Caithness southd. ; ascends to 1,200 ft. in Yorkshire ; 

 Ireland ; Channel Islands ; fl. July-Aug. Glabrous, branched, tufted. 

 Stems 3-8 in., 4-angled, creeping, fragile. Leaves |-1 in. opposite, short- 

 petioled. Flowers very minute, in almost all the leaf -axils, purplish. 

 Calyx 12-ribbed, hemispheric ; teeth triangular. Petals minute or 0. 

 Stamens 6 or 12. Capsule globose. DISTBIB. Europe, N. Africa. 



ORDER XXXII. ONAGRA'RIEJE. 



Herbs (rarely shrubs or trees). Leaves opposite or alternate, exstipulate. 

 Flowers regular. Calyx superior ; lobes 2-4, valvate in bud. Petals 2-4, 

 rarely 0, perigynous, fugacious, twisted in bud. Stamens 1-8, 1-2-seriate, 

 sometimes declinate ; anthers oblong. Disk epigynous and coating the 

 calyx-tube. Ovary 4- (rarely 1-6-) celled ; style filiform, stigma entire or 

 4-lobed ; ovules 1 or more in the inner angle of each cell, pendulous or 

 ascending, anatropous. Fruit a drupe, berry, or capsule. Seeds 1 or 

 more, smooth papillose or hairy, albumen or very scanty ; embryo ovoid, 

 cotyledons plano-convex. DISTRIB. Temp, regions, rarer in tropical ; 

 genera 22 ; species 300. AFFINITIES. With Lythracece and. Melastomacece. 

 PROPERTIES unimportant. 



Petals 4, pink or purple. Stamens 8 1. Epilobium. 



Petals short or 0. Stamens 4 2. Ludwigia. 



Petals 4, yellow. Stamens 8 2*. (Enothera. 



Petals 2, white. Stamens 2 3. Circsea. 



1. EPIIiO'BIUM, L. WILLOW-HERB. 



Herbs or under-shrubs, stolons creeping. Leaves alternate or opposite. 

 Flowers solitary, axillary, or in terminal leafy spikes, pink or purple, rarely 

 yellow. Calyx-tube long, slender ; limb 4-partite, deciduous. Petals 4, 

 usually 2-lobed. Stamens 8, the alternate shorter. Ovary 4-celled ; style 

 filiform, stigma obliquely clavate or 4-lobed ; ovules many, 2-seriate, 

 ascending. Capsule elongate, 4-celled, loculicidally 4-valved ; valves 

 separating from a 4- winged seed-bearing axis. Seeds broadest above, tipped 

 with a long pencil of hairs, minutely tubercled. DISTRIB. Arctic, temp, 

 and cold regions, abundant in New Zealand ; species 50. ETYM. M and 

 \6&iov, from the position of the corolla, &c., on the pod. 

 Hybrids abound in this genus ; the following are proved or suspected : 



lanceolatum with obscurum ; parviflorum with montanum ; obscurum with 



parviflorum and palustre ; palustre with alsinefolium; and parvijlorum with 



tetrayonum. Many others occur on the Continent. 



SECTION 1. Chamsene'rion. Corolla irregular, rotate. Calyx-lobes 

 free to the base, spreading. Stamens declinate. 



