THE PURSLANE FAxMILY. ir7 



THE PURSLANE FAMILY. 



Portulacacccc. 



In our range including tircc genera of mostly fleshy herbs with entire, 

 alternate or opposite leaves, an.l bearing perfect and regular Jloivers 

 the calyx, ivith but two sepals. 



SPRING BEAUTY. 



Chiytbnia Virginica. 



Flcnvers : a few growing in a very loose, terminal raceme. Calyx : with two 

 ovate and persistent sepals. Corolla: with five rounded petals, delicately veined 

 with pink and slightly united at their bases. Stamens: five, on the corolla. Tis- 

 til one ; style, three-lobed. Stem leaves: opposite ; linear, or linear-lanceolate, 

 bluntly pointed at the apex and narrowing into petioles, being considcrablv 

 shorter than the basal leaves. Stem : erect or decumbent, rarely branched'; 

 glabrous. The plant arises from a tuberous root. 



About the spring beauty there is a tenderness, a delicacy of e.vpression 

 which is altogether charming. It is also a bold little thing. \'ery early in 

 the spring it pushes through the ground and almost before one has had a 

 chance to take a second look about, it spreads, in some places, a sheet of 

 bloom which extends almost as far as the eye can see. Naturally it is a 

 wild, woodsy creature belonging exclusively to moist and frequently shaded 

 places. As soon as it is picked it fades, becoming indeed a miserable look- 

 ing object. 



C. Caroliniana, Carolina spring beauty, throws out a flower which is very 

 similar to that of the above species. Its leaves, however, are strongly ovate, 

 or ovate-lanceolate while those on the stem taper into quite long petioles. 

 The plant grows more nearly erect than does Claytonia Virginica and often 

 its bloom is quite abundant. Through the Alleghanies, at high elevations, 

 it is a forerunner of the spring, but, somehow its grace is not quite as 

 ethereal as that of its relative. 



