02 WEEDS AXD USEFUL PLANTS. 



ORDER IX. PORTULACA'CE^E. (PURSLANE FAMILY.) 



Succulent or fleshy herbs, with regular, unsymmetrical, axillary or terminal, usually 

 ephemeral powers. Calyx mostly of 2 sepals, often united below and adhering to the base 

 of the ovary. Petals 5, or rarely more numerous. Stamens variable in number, oppo- 

 site the petals when of the same number. Styles 2 -8, united below. Capsule 1 -celled ; 

 placenta central. Seeds mostly numerous , curved ; embryo coiled around mealy albumen. 

 There are some 30 genera in the Order of which the plant here noticed is the type. 

 They are, however, of little or no interest to the farmer. 



1. PORTULA'CA, Tournef. PURSLANE. 



[A name of obscure and uncertain derivation.] 



Sepals 2, partly united, and adherent to the base of the ovary, the 

 upper portion finally circumscissed and deciduous. Petals mostly 5, in- 

 serted on the calyx. Stamens 8-15 or 20. Stigmas 3-8. Cap- 

 sule subglobose, circumscissed. Leaves scattered, often whorled near the 

 flowers. 



41 



1. P. olera'cea, L. Prostrate, smooth; leaves oblong-cuneate, obtuse, 



fleshy ; flowers sessile, opening only in the morning sun. 



POT-HERB PORTULACA. Purslane. 



Fr. Pourpier potager. Germ. Gemeiner Portulak. Span. Verdolaga. 



Root annual. Stem 6-12 or 15 inches long, fleshy, smooth, prostrate, branching and 

 radicating. Leaves half an inch to an inch long, alternate and opposite. Petals pale yellow. 



Gardens and cultivated grounds. Native of Europe and India. Fl. July -August. Fr. 

 September. 



Obs. This plant, though said to be indigenous in the far west, has 

 every appearance of being a naturalized stranger with us. It was often 



FIG. 41. Purslane (Portulaca oleracea). 42. A pod, opening transversely. ' 



