66 



arrangement of other families and orders. Not only the order 

 Centrospermae, but also probably the Polygonales and Aris- 

 tolochiales must then apparently follow the order Parietales or 

 part of it. In his Bltitendiagramme, Eichler makes the statement 

 that to place the Frankeniaceae near the Pink Family, as 

 Bentham and Hooker do, is forbidden by the placentation; the 

 Pflanzenfamilien by its arrangement supports this view. How- 

 ever, studies of the placentation in various families show that 

 in this respect also there are suggestive resemblances. 



The Frankeniaceae are mostly small plants of dry regions, 

 the interesting distribution of the five genera is indicated by 

 the map. 



Approximate Distribution of Frankeniaceae 



A: Anlhobryum B: Beatsonia 



F: Frankenia N: Niederleinia H: Hypericopsis 



(In South America the Frankenia extends into the Anthobiyim ard Nieder- 

 leinia areas). 



The general outward appearance of Frankeniaceae is much 

 like that of some of the Caryophyllaceae. In both families the 

 leaves are opposite, with entire margins, and without stipules. 

 The leaves are small in Frankeniaceae, often so in Caryo- 

 phyllaceae. In the Frankeniaceae the usually short petioles 

 of each pair of leaves are connected by a scarious membrane, 

 in the Caryophyllaceae each pair of sessile leaves is similarly 

 connected (see plate, fig. 1-2). The inflorescence in both 

 families is usually a dichotomous cyme. 



The calyx in the Frankeniaceae is tubular and usually angular 



