PORTULACACEJE. (PURSLANE FAMILY.) 63 



by conspicuous large silvery bracts ; calyx hairy, short-awned ; petals mere teeth 

 between the stamens. 1J. Slides in the Notch of the White Mountains, New 

 Hampshire, and bare summits above : a recent discovery. Alleghany Moun- 

 tains from Virginia southward. July. 



2. P. dicliotoiiia, Nutt. Smooth, tufted; stems (6' -12' high) ascend- 

 ing from a rather woody base ; leaves and bracts awl-shaped; cymes open, many- 

 times forked; sepals short-pointed; minute bristles in place of petals. 1|. 

 Kocks, Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and southwestward. July -Sept. 



SUBORDER IV. SCL.ERATVTHE./E. THE KNAWEL FAMILY. 



18. SCL,ERANTHUS, L. KNAWEL. 



' Sepals 5, united below in an indurated cup, enclosing the 1 -seeded utricle. 

 Petals none. Stamens 10 or 5. Styles 2, distinct. Homely little weeds, with 

 awl-shaped leaves, obscure greenish clustered flowers, and no stipules. (Name 

 from <rK\r)p6s, hard, and avBos, flower, from the hardened calyx-tube.) 



1. S. ANNUUS, L. Much branched and spreading (3' -5' high); flowers ses- 

 sile in the forks ; calyx-lobes scarcely margined, (i) Sandy waste places. 

 (Nat. fromEu.) 



V 



SUBORDER V. MOL.L.ITGINE.S!. INDIAN-CHICKWEED FAMILY. 



19. MOLiLitrOO, L. INDIAN-CHICKWEED. 



Sepals 5, white inside. Petals none. Stamens hypogynous, 5 and alternate 

 with the sepals, or 3 and alternate with the 3 cells of the ovary. Stigmas 3. 

 Pod 3-celled, 3-valved, loculicidal, the partitions breaking away from the many- 

 seeded axis. Low homely annuals, much branched; the stipules obsolete. 

 (An old Latin name for some soft plant.) 



1. M. verticillata, L. (CARPET-WEED.) Prostrate, forming patches ; 

 leaves spatulate, clustered in whorls at the joints, where the 1 -flowered pedicels 

 form a sort of sessile umbel ; stamens usually 3. Sandy river-banks, and cul- 

 tivated grounds. June- Sept. (An immigrant from farther south.) 



ORDER 22. PORTULACACE^E. (PURSLANE FAMILY.; 



Herbs, with succulent leaves, and regular but unsymmetrical flowers ; viz., 

 sepals usually fewer than the petals ; the stamens opposite the petals when of 

 the same number, but often indefinite : otherwise nearly as Chickweeds. 

 Sepals 2, rarely 3 or 5. Petals 5, or sometimes none. Stamens mostly 

 5 - 20. Styles 3-8, united below, or distinct, stigmatic along the inside. 

 Pod 1 - 5-celled, with few or many campylotropous seeds rising on slender 

 stalks from the base, or from a central placenta. Embryo curved around 

 mealy albumen. Insipid and innocent herbs, with opposite or alternate 

 entire leaves. Corolla opening only in sunshine, irostly ephemeral, then 

 shrivelling. 



