108 SCLERANTHACE^. Scleranthus. 



1. SCLERANTHUS. Li?m. ; Endl. gen. 5222. KNAWBL. 



[ Named from stte/os, hard, o.ni} a nl/ios, a flower; the base of the ftovver becoming indurated.] 



Sepals 5. Stamens 10, rarely 5 or 2. Styles distinct. — Leaves somewhat connate-linear, 

 with scarious margins. Flowers in axillary leafy cymules, greenish. 



1. Scleranthus annuus, Linn. Common Knmcel. 



Annual ; flowers mostly decandrous ; sepals of the fructiferous calyx spreading, acute. — 

 Linn. ; Willd. sp. 2. p. 660 ; E?ig. hot. t. 351 ; Pursh, f. 1. p. 3\5; Torr. fl. 1. p. 448 ; 

 Bigel. fl. Bost. p. Ill ; DC. prodr. 3. p. 378. 



Plants spreading and forming tufts 3-6 inches or more in diameter, dichotomously much 

 branched, somewhat pubescent. Leaves subulate, carinate, scarious and dilated at the base. 

 Flowers inconspicuous, very numerous, nearly sessile. Sepals lanceolate, green, with a 

 white scarious margin. Stamens sometimes only 5, shorter than the calyx. Seed lenticular, 

 smooth, contained in a thin membranaceous pericarp, which is enclosed in the hardened base 

 of the calyx. 



A common weed in sandy fields and barren hill-sides ; flowering from May to July. Pro 

 bably an introduced plant. 



Order XXI. PORTULACACE^. Juss. The Purselane Tribe. 



Sepals 2 (rarely 3), mostly united at the base, free or rarely cohering with the 

 base of the ovary. Petals 5, or very rarely 3, 4 or 6, imbricated in aestivation. 

 Stamens variable in number, opposite the petals when of the same number, 

 inserted with the petals into the base of the calyx, or hypogynous : filaments 

 all fertile, distinct : anthers fixed by the middle, versatile or introrse. Ovary 

 one-celled : styles 2 - G, usually more or less combined, stigmatose along the 

 inner surface. Capsule 1-celled, dehiscing transversely (like the lid of a box), 

 or loculicidal with as many valves as stigmas. Seeds few or numerous, attached 

 to a central placenta. Embryo curved around the outside of mealy albumen. 

 — Succulent or fleshy insipid herbs. Leaves entire, alternate or opposite, 

 without stipules. Flowers usually ephemeral. 



