PURSLANE FAMILY. 79 



9. SAGINA, PEARL WORT. (Latin : sagina, fattening ; of no appli- 

 cation to these plants.) Small and insignificant plants, only two 



S. proctimbens, Linn. Smooth; parts of the flower in fours as a 

 rule ; the petals (sometimes 0) shorter than the ovate obtuse sepals. 

 Moist places. N. or 11 



S. decrimbeng, Torr. & Gray. Pedicels, calyx, and margins of upper 

 leaves at first glandular pubescent ; parts of the flower in fives ; pod 

 nearly twice length of acutish sepals. Mass, to Mo., and common S. 



10. BUDA, SAND SPURREY. (After the city of this name prob- 

 ably.) Small herbs with scaly- membranaceous stipules, with red or 

 white flowers, mostly near the seacoast. Known also as Spergularia 

 and Tissa. 2/ ? 



B. rubra, Dumort. Smoothish, prostrate in tufts ; leaves thread-shaped ; 

 pod and pink-red corolla hardly equaling or exceeding the calyx ; seeds 

 rough, wingless, half-obovate. Common in sand or gravel, along roads 

 and paths, E., quite away from salt water. 



B. marina, Dumort. Larger and more fleshy, only in brackish sands ; 

 with short pedicels, pale corolla ; pod longer than the calyx, and rough, 

 obovate-rounded (narrow- winged or wingless) seeds. Variable. 



11. SFERGULA, SPURREY. (Latin: spargo, scatter, i.e. its 



S. arvensis, Linn. CORN S. Stems 1 or so high, bearing several 

 thread-shaped leaves in the whorls, and terminating in a panicle of white 

 flowers. A weed in grainfields ; cult, in Eu. as a forage plant for 

 sheep. 



XVH. PORTULACACKffi, PURSLANE FAMILY. 



Succulent-leaved herbs, with 2 sepals and 5 petals, the 

 stamens sometimes many, sometimes few and then one before 

 each petal; ovary 1-celled, becoming a pod, with many or few 

 kidney-shaped seeds on a central placenta, or on slender seed- 

 stalks from the base. Seeds as in the Pink Family. 



Stamens more numerous than the petals ; flowers opening only once, in sunshine. 



1. PORTULACA. Style cleft into several slender divisions. Lower part of the ovary and 



many-seeded pod united with the bottom of the calyx ; the upper part when mature 

 falling off as a lid. Leafy and branching, low and spreading, with fleshy, sessile leaves. 



2. TALINUM. Style 3-lobed at the summit. Calyx free from the ovary, deciduous. Pod 



3-valved, many-seeded. 



8. CALANDEINIA. Style 3-cleft at the summit. Calyx free from the ovary, persistent, 

 inclosing the 3-valved many-seeded pod. 



* * Stamens 5, one attached to the base of each petal ; flowers opening for more than 

 one day. 



4. CLAYTONIA. Style 3-cleft at the summit. Calyx persistent, free from the few-seeded 

 pod. Low smooth herbs, ours producing only a pair of stem leaves and a short 

 raceme of flowers. Stem simple, often from a round tuber. 



