Sesuvium. KKOI DK.K. 25'J 



perhaps not iudigenoua; also Central California (wliorc certainly intnxlurctl), on and near 

 the coast, Sta. Cruz, J'niri/ .- bunks and niarslies <»f San Jiiii<|uin Kivcr, t'unijdon,' Michtnrr 

 &. liiolttti. (W. Ind. ou Cuba, St. Doiuingo, Virgin Ids., &c.) 



4. TRIANTHEMA, Sauv. ('!>:?, three, and ai'^e/xor, flower, from the 

 often teriKite nature of the inflorescence.) — <le Sauva','i's. Metli. Fol. 127; L. 

 Spec. i. 22^; Ik-nth. & Hook. (Jen. i. 8'>.'>. — A small genus of prostrate herbs 

 or undershrubs, tropical and subtropical, chiefly of Asia, Africa, and Australia, 

 the only American species being 



T. Porttllacastrum, L. Diffusely and dichotouiuusly briin.-bcl bcrb. somr-wli:it snccu- 

 K-nt ; protunibcnt or |)r<istrati; brandies terete, smooth or jiapillose jiui.erulent. C in( lien to 

 3 feet in lengtli : leaves opposite, obovate to suborbicular, entire or nearly ho, half incli to 

 indi long, olituse, roundetl, niuironate, or retuse at the apex, usually cuneate at the l)aiM; ; 

 the leaves of each pair une(iual ; jK-tioles dilated near the ba.>*e into bidentate slipular exp.an- 

 sions, connate al)out tiie stem, the sheath, thus formed, bearing an intermediate tcMitii on 

 each side: Howers small, closely sessile in the forks of tlie liranches, purplish within : sepals 

 ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, withering to a sort of rostrum upon the broad obliipie summit 

 of the circumscissile few-seeded capsule; style single; ovary at length partially divide<l into 

 two superposed cells. — Spec. i. 22.'{ (Poilulitni Cunissaviai jirocHinhiUH, Herni. I'arad. Hat. 

 213, t. 213) ; Hook. f. & Jackson, Index Kew. ii. 1101. T. moniM/i/na, L. Mant. 69; Lam. III. 

 ii. 496, t. 375, f. 1 ; Gray, I'l. Wriglit. i. 15, ii. 20; P.iyer, Ann. Sci. Nat. acr. 3, xviii 241. 

 t. 12; Chapm. Fl. ed. 2, 607. — Forming mats on shores, in saline jdaces, or in rich garden 

 soil; Keys of Florida to Arizona, and not infre<iuent on baljjist in tlie Middle Atlantic 

 States. (Mex., Lower Calif., W. Ind., and widelv distributed in the warmer parts of the 

 Old World.) 



5. SEStrVIUM, L. Ska Purslane. (Etymology unknown.) — Syst. 

 Nat. ed. 10. 10.')8, & Spec. ed. 2, i. G84 ; Jacq. Stirp. Am. t. O.'j ; Gray. Gen. 111. 

 i. 22'J. t. 100; Benth. & Hook. Gen. i. 855. St'suvium &. Pyxlpoma, Fenzl, 

 Ann. Wien. Mus. ii. 292, 21)3. — A small but widely distributed genus of Heshv 

 prostrate or sub-erect mostly maritime herbs or underslirui»s with axillary purplish 

 apetalous flowers. 



♦ Stamens many, indefinite. 

 S. Portulacastrum, L. 11. cc. Stems numerous, long, spreading, decumbent, often nxiting 

 at the lower nodes, (piite smooth or slightly verruco.se: leaves linear-oldt>ng t<) sjiatulate, 

 mostly acutish, 1 to 2 inches in length : flowers 4 or 5 lines long, usually on peduncles of 

 nearly or quite their own length: sepals narrowly oblong, horned on the back near the 

 apex. — DC. Prodr. iii. 4IJ3 ; Cli.ipm. Fl. 44. S. pediinruiatnm, I'ers. Syn. ii. 39. Portiilara 

 Portiilacaslnim, L. Spec. i. 446 (Herm. I'arad. Bat. t. 112; Pluk. Aim. t. 216, L ]). — Sea- 

 he-iches and sandy b.inks near the coast, N. Carolina, M. A. Curtis; Florida. (\V. Ind.. 

 Bermuda, most tropics, Cliina.) 



S. sessile, I'khs. More erect and busliy, never rooting from the nodes, copiously .ind dichot- 

 oinously branched : stems smooth or very often liuely verrutose with crystalline glolmles a» 

 in MiSfinliri/iinl/ii'iiiiim: leaves shorter and mostly t)roader and more obtuse than in the 

 preceding species, oblanceol.ite or obov.ite-oblong : flowers subsessile, 2 to 3 lines in length : 

 sepals rather bro.adly ovate-oblong, dorsally cornute near the a|)ex. — Syn. ii. 39. 5. Puttu- 

 larastritm, DC. PI. (Inuss. t. 9; Torr. in Fmory. Hep. 137, & Bot. Mex. Bound. 38 ; Coulter, 

 Man. Rocky Mt. Heg. 112; Greene, Fl. Francis. 239; not L. 5. Pnrtnhirastnim, var. luhsfs. 

 sile, Gray (PI. Wright, i. 13, ii 19) in W.its. Bild. Index. 411, pn.bably not of CnmlK'*s. in 

 St. Ilil. Fl. IJras. Merid. ii. 200, which, being the much snialler-Howen-d .<. jxiri-iflonim. DC, 

 of S. Am., is presumably a distin<t species. — Beadies, river banks, and sterile saline plain*, 

 coa.st of Texas, to S. Kan.s.is, Curletim, and Colorado, i'rmulall : N. W. Nevada, /.f-mmim, aixl 

 California from the v.illey of the San .Toaquin near Stockton, ./(/..so/i, soutliward. (I^iwer 

 CaliL, Orcutt ; Northern .Mex. ; S. Braxil.) A plant of too distinct habit and range, at least 



