312 PLUMBAGINACE^E. (LEADWORT FAMILY.) 



coarsely and sparingly toothed; seeds usually 2. Sandy grounds, Rhode 

 Island to Illinois and southward. May -Sept. 



# # Stamens only 2 : leaves narrowly linear or thread-shaped, barely \-ribbed: spike 

 mostly slender, of few or many crowded or scattered small flowers. 



8. P. pusilla, Nutt. Minutely pubescent (!'- 4' high); leaves en tire ; pod 

 short-ovoid, 4-seedcd, little exceeding the calyx and bract. Dry hills, New York 

 to Illinois, and southward. April- Aug. 



9. P. heteroph^lla, Nutt. Leaves rather fleshy, acute, entire, or some 

 of them below 2 - 4-lobed or toothed; pod oblong-conoidal, 10 - 28-seeded, nearly 

 twice the length of the calyx and bract. (P. pusilla, Decaisne, in DC.) Low or 

 sandy grounds, from Philadelphia southward. April -June. Plant 2' -8' 

 high. 



3. Flowers all commonly fertile, but of 2 sorts on different plants; the more common 

 with very small anthers on short filaments (perhaps early and close-fertilized) ; oth- 

 ers with large anthers on long-exserted filaments : corolla with broad round lobes 

 permanently widely spreading: seeds 2 (one in each cell), boat-shaped, deeply hol- 

 lowed on the face : mostly annuals, with narrow and woolly or hairy leaves. 



10. P. Patag6nica, Jacq. Silky-woolly, or becoming naked; leaves 1- 

 3-nerved ; spike cylindrical or oblong, dense ; sepals very obtuse, scarious, with 

 a thick centre. (Found through almost the whole length of America.) 



Var. gnaphalioides, Gray. White with silky wool ; leaves varying from 

 oblong-linear to filiform; spike very dense (4' 4' long), woolly; bracts not 

 exceeding the calyx. (P. Lagopus, Pursh. P. gnaphalioides, Nutt.) Dry 

 plains, W. Wisconsin and southwestward. Runs through var. SPINULOSA and 

 var. NUDA into 



Var. aristata, Gray. Loosely hairy and green, or becoming glabrous ; 

 bracts awned, 2-3 times the length of the flowers. (P. aristata, Michx., &c.) 

 Illinois and southwestward. 



ORDER 63. PLiUMBAGINACEJE. (LEADWORT FAMILY.) 



Maritime herbs, with regular 5-merous flowers, a plaited calyx, the 5 sta- 

 mens opposite the separate petals or the lobes of the corolla, and the free ovary 

 one-celled, with a solitary ovule hanging from a long cord which rises from 

 the base of the cell. The STATICE^E or MARSH-ROSEMARY TRIBE only 

 is represented in our region, in gardens by the THRIFT (ARMERIA VUL- 

 GARIS), on the coast by a single species of 



1. STATICE, Tourn. SEA-LAVENDER. MARSH-ROSEMARY. 



Flowers scattered or loosely spiked and 1 -sided on the branches, 2-3-bracted. 

 Calyx funnel-form, dry and membranaceous, persistent. Corolla of 5 nearly or 

 quite distinct petals, with long claws, the 5 stamens severally attached to their 

 bases. Styles 5, rarely 3, separate. Fruit membranous and indehiscent, 1 -seeded, 

 in the bottom of the calyx. Embryo straight, in mealy albumen. Sea -side 

 perennials, with thick and stalked radical leaves ; the naked flowering stems or 



