102 LETTER VII. f^jMihttOt* 



fleshy, or as it is usually called succulent. Plants 

 thus constructed belong to the Purslane trihe^ so called 

 because the now-forgotten Purslane, which was once 

 in much esteem as a salad, belong to it. They are 

 often remarkably beautiful on account of their bright 

 red or yellow flowers ; are always harmless and 

 wholesome in their properties ; but are sometimes, 

 when the petals are small, mean-looking herbs. 



You cannot take a better specimen of the Purslane 

 tribe than the large-fiowered Calandr'mia (Plate VII. 

 2.), a Chilian plant that is now a good deal culti- 

 vated. Its soft and succulent stems and leaves are 

 exceedingly dissimilar to those parts in the Chick- 

 weed tribe. The calyx is formed of two leaves {Jigs. 1. 

 and 4.); there are five petals which pay their homage 

 to the sun by unfolding their crimson drapery 

 beneath his earliest beams, and rolling up again as 

 soon as the light of his countenance is withdrawn. 

 A considerable number of stamens succeed the 

 petals ; and in the centre is an ovary with one cell 

 and a central receptacle covered with ovules ; it is 

 surmounted with a style which ends in a broad hairy 

 lobed stigma. The fruit when ripe splits into four 

 valves (Jig. 4.) ; which allow the escape of a number 

 of black seeds (Jigs. 5. and 6.), altogether resem- 

 bling in their internal structure the seeds of most of 

 the Chick weed tribe. 



The obscure little Water Chickweed (Montia fon- 

 tana) ; a neat looking American genus of hardy plants 

 called Claytonia; the Pwr5/«?i^5 themselves (Portulaca), 

 many of which are verv handsome ; and the Chilian 



