30 CARYOPHYLLEJ;. 



peduncles erect, greatly exceeding the leaves, 48 in. high : fl. 1 in. broad 

 or more, golden-yellow, the upper petals dark-brown on the outside, the 

 others purple-veined within; lateral petals bearded: capsule oblong- 

 ovate, 46 lines long, glabrous. On low hills, in open ground. 



6. V. sarmentosa, Dougl. Stems prostrate, more or less creeping, 

 slender, sparsely leafy; slightly pubescent: leaves rather thick and per- 

 sistent, reniform, round-cordate or ovate, % 1% in. broad, finely cre- 

 nate, deep green above, often rusty beneath, usually punctate with dark 

 dots: peduncles slender, elongated: fl. light-yellow, not large. In woods 

 of the Coast Eange. 



7. V. purpurea, Kell. Stems clustered, from a branching perpen- 

 dicular root, 2 6 jn. high: pubescence very scant but under a lens 

 hispidulous, somewhat retrorse or at least spreading: herbage rather 

 succulent, in early stages purple, except the upper surface of the leaves : 

 leaves from broadly ovate to lanceolate, tapering to the petiole, entire or 

 more or less coarsely and often somewhat crenately toothed: peduncles 

 little exceeding the leaves: petals 3 5 lines long, light yellow within, 

 dark purple externally: capsule almost globular, 3 lines long, pubescent. 

 Mt. Diablo Eange. 



H- +- -i Leaves divided or lobed; fl. yellow. 



8. V. lobata, Benth. Stoutish, erect, %l ft. high, from an erect 

 roots tock, leafy at the summit; puberulent or nearly glabrous; leaves of 

 reniform or cordate outline, 24 in. broad, the cauline short-petioled, all 

 palmately cleft into 5 9 narrowly oblong lobes, the central lobe largest or 

 longest; some of the radical leaves less lobed or only coarsely toothed: 

 petals 6 lines long, yellow, the upper brownish externally, the lateral 

 slightly bearded: capsule 56 lines long, acute. Var. integrifolia, 

 Wats. Leaves deltoid, acuminate, evenly crenate-serrate, not at all 

 lobed. Inner Coast Eange. 



ORDER XII. CARYOPHYLLE/E. 



Herbs or suffrutescent plants with inert watery juice, mostly opposite 

 leaves and swollen nodes. Inflorescence usually dichotomous. Flowers 

 mostly 5-merous, complete and regular. Sepals united or distinct, im- 

 bricate in bud, persistent. Petals imbricate or convolute, often bifid, 

 sometimes wanting. Stamens usually 10, occasionally 5, distinct, hypo- 

 gynous around a ring-like disk, or perigynous by cohesion of disk with 

 calyx-tube. Styles 2 5, mostly distinct and with decurrent stigmas. 

 Fruit a capsule opening by valves or teeth. 



* Sepals joined into a tubular calyx. 



Calyx prominently 5-angled VAGCARIA 1 



" 10-ribbed: capsule coriaceous, 5-toothed AOROSTEMMA 2 



" many-striate; capsule 6-toothed SILENE 3 



