98 MALVACEAE. (MALLOW FAMILY.) 



1. P. OLERACEA, L. (COMMON PURSLANE.) Prostrate, very smooth; 

 leaves obovate or wedge-form; flowers sessile (opening only in sunny morn- 

 ings) ; sepals keeled; petals pale yellow; stamens 7-12; style deeply 5-6- 

 parted ; flower-bud flat and acute. Cultivated and waste grounds : common. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



P. RETtiSA, Engelm., closely resembling the common Purslane, is indigenous 

 west of the Mississippi. 



P. GRANDIFIX^RA, with terete leaves and showy flowers, cult, for ornament, 

 begins to be spontaneous around gardens. 



3. TAIiINUM, Adans. TAHNUM. 



Sepals 2, distinct and free, deciduous. Petals 5, ephemeral. Stamens 10- 

 30. Style 3-lobed at the apex. Pod 3-celled at the base when young, 3-valved, 

 with many seeds on a globular stalked placenta. (Derivation obscure.) 



1. T. teretifdlium, Pursh. Leafy stems low, tuberous at the base; 

 leaves linear, cylindrical; peduncle long (3' -6') and naked, bearing an open 

 cyme of pink flowers (' broad); stamens 15-20. 1J. Serpentine rocks, 

 Westchester, Penn., Falls of St. Croix River, Wisconsin, and southward. 

 June - Aug. 



4. CLAYTONIA, L. SPRING-BEAUTY. 



Sepals 2, ovate, free, persistent. Stamens 5, adhering to the short claws of 

 the petals. Style 3-cleft at the apex. Pod 1 -celled, 3-valved, 3- 6-seeded. 

 Our two species are perennials, sending up simple stems in early spring from a 

 small deep tuber, bearing a pair of opposite leaves, and a loose raceme of pretty 

 flowers. Corolla rose-color with deeper veins, opening for more than one day ! 

 (Named in honor of Dr. John Clayton, one of our earliest botanists, who con- 

 tributed to Gronovius the materials for the Flora Virginica.) 



1. C. Virginica, L. Leaves linear-lanceolate, elongated (3' -6' long). 

 Moist open woods : common, especially westward and southward. 



2. C. Caroliniana, Michx. Leaves spatulate-oblong or oval-lanceolate 

 (l'-2' long). W. New Hampshire, to Wisconsin, and southward along the 

 Alleghanies. 



ORDER 20. MALVACEAE. (MALLOW FAMILY.) 



Herbs or shrubs, with alternate stipulate leaves and regular flowers, the 

 calyx valvate and the corolla convolute in the bud, numerous stamens mona- 

 delphous in a column, which is united at the base with the short claws of the 

 petals, l-celled anthers, and kidney-shaped seeds. Sepals 5, united at the 

 base, persistent, often involucellate with a whorl of bractlets, forming a 

 sort of exterior calyx. Petals 5. Anthers kidney-shaped, opening along 

 the top. Pistils several, with the ovaries united in a ring, or forming a 

 several-celled pod. Seeds with little albumen : embryo curved, the leafy 

 cotyledons variously doubled up. Mucilaginous, innocent plants, with 

 . tough bark, and palmately-veined leaves. Flowerstalks with a joint, 

 axillary. 



