1817.] NEW GENERA OF PLANTS. 117 



DIANDRIA.— DiGYNiA. 



Natural Order, Portulacete. Allied to Montia. 

 Genus ^CRYPTA.f 



Calyx diphyllus inferus. CoroVa 2 aut 3-pe- 

 tala, arete incumbentia, elausa. Sti/li nulli: stigmata 

 2 aut 3 minutissima, punctiformia. Capsula 2 aut 3 

 valvis, 2 aut 3-locularis, loculis 4 ad 5-spermis. Semi- 

 7ia subeylindracea incurva, longitudinaliter striato-pune- 

 tata. 



Herbula paludosa, minima, succulenta. Folia oppo- 

 sita, Integra, stipulacea. Flores minuti, sessiles, alterni, 

 inaperti. 



C. minima. 



Description. — Plant smooth and succulent. Root 

 fibrous. Stetn numerously and dichotomously branch- 

 ed^ decumbent, radicant, thick, and cylihdric, mark- 

 ed with about six to eight vertical lines, internally 

 divided into as many compartments, with the dissepi- 

 ments diverging from a common filiform axis; branches 

 assurgent. Leaves cuneate-oval, or obovate, opposite, 

 sessile, entire, and lucid, marked on the upper surface 

 with elevated pappillose punctures, (visible only through 

 a lens) furnished with but a single visible nerve, bistipu- 

 late at the base; stipules membranaceous and acuminated. 

 Flowers axillary, solitary, sessile, and alternate, extreme- 

 ly minute, rapidly displaced by the enlargement of the 

 germ. Calyx two-leaved, leaves oblong- oval each usual- 

 ly terminated by a brownish sphacelate point. Corolla 



•^From KDvwTM^ I hide, or conceal. 



