40 MALVACE^. (mallow FAMILY.) 



free sepals, hypogynous petals and stamens, and distinct styles bearing 

 capitate stigmas, the ovary 2 to 5-celled with axile placenta becoming 

 capsular in fruit. 



1. ELATINE, L. Watee-wort. 



Parts of the flower in twos, threes, or fours. Sepals membranaceous, obtuse. 

 Ovary globose. — Small prostrate glabrous plants, growing in water or wet 

 places, with entire leaves and usually solitary flowers. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad, 

 xiii. 36L 



■ 1. E. triandra, Schkuhr. Leaves oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, gradu- 

 ally attenuate at base : petals, stamens, and carpels most frequently 3, with 2 

 sepals : ahnost the seeds of the next, or more slender, less marked. — On the 

 Platte River, in Nebraska or Colorado (Hall) ; also in Illinois. 



2. E. Americana, Arn. Leaves obovate, very obtuse: flowers with their 

 parts oftener in ttcos, sometimes in threes : seeds cyliudraceous, somewhat 

 curved, the crustaceous coat many- (20 to 30-) latticed in 9 to 10 lines. — Col- 

 orado and Oregon, also on the Atlantic border. 



Order 14. HYPEBICACE.I:. (St. John's-wort Family.) 



Herbs (in ours), with opposite entire leaves punctate with translucent 

 or dark-colored glandular dots, no stipules, and perfect flowers with 5 

 petals and numerous stamens, the fruit a many-seeded capsule. — Sepals 

 5, imbricate. Petals convolute, glandular-punctate. Stamens very nu- 

 merous in 3 bundles. Styles 2 to 5. 



1. HYPERICUM, L. St. John's-wort. 



In our species the capsule is 3-celled by the union of the placenta Avith the 

 axis, septicidal, and the flowers yellow with black dots. 



1. H. Seouleri, Hook. Stems erect from a running rootstock, simple 

 or sparingly branched : leaves ovate to oblong, clasping : flowers in an open 

 cyme : styles elongated. — Colorado, Utah, southward and westward. 



Order 15. J^IALVACE^E. (Mallow Family.) 



Mostly herbs, with mucilaginous juice, and alternate leaves with stip- 

 ules; distinguished by the valvate calyx, convolute petals, their bases 

 or short claws united with each other and with the base of a column of 

 numerous monadelphous stamens, these with reniform 1 -celled anthers. 

 — Calyx 5-parted, often surrounded by an involucel. Petals 5. Pistils 

 a ring of ovaries around a projection of the receptacle. Leaves most 

 commonly palmately ribbed. Peduncles axillary. Flowers often large 

 and showy. In all of ours the stamineal tube is anther-bearing at 

 the top. 



