ONAGRACE.E. 5 



bracteoles at the base. Calyx shortly hell-shaped, with 12 teeth ; 

 the 6 inner deltoid, the 6 outer generally longer, subulate, spread- 

 in°-. Style very short. Capsule subglobose, twice as long as the 

 calyx-tube. Plant glabrous. 



In wet places. Very common, and generally distributed through- 

 out the kingdom. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual ? Summer 

 and Autumn. 



Stems fragile, much branched, rooting at the base, creeping in 

 mud or floating in shallow water, 2 inches to 1 foot long, bluntly 

 quadrangular. Leaves ^ to 1 inch long, broadly obovate, sometimes 

 spathulate, most of them with flowers in their axils. Flowers at 

 first sub-sessile, but at last with the stalk nearly as long as the 

 calyx-tube, purplish. Calyx-tube ^ inch long, not above twice as 

 long as the inner teeth, with 12 faint ribs. Petals 6, pink, obovate, 

 very caducous, sometimes absent. Stamens 6 to 12. Style with its 

 length scarcely exceeding its diameter. Capsule about the size of 

 a grain of sago. Seeds numerous, angular, finely punctate-striate. 

 Plant quite glabrous, somewhat succulent, dull-green, generally 

 tinged with purplish-red. 



Water Purslane. 



French, Peptide Pourpier. German, Gemeine Bacliburgel. 



ORDER XXVIIL— O NAGRACEJ1. 



Herbs, more rarely shrubs, with opposite, alternate, or verticillate 

 leaves, which are exstipulate, pinnately-veined, entire, toothed or 

 pectinated, destitute of dots. Elowers axillary, arranged in racemes 

 or spikes, perfect, generally regular, usually purple or yellow. Calyx 

 sometimes coloured, tubular, with the tube united with the ovary ; 

 limb usually deciduous, commonly 4-, rarely 2-, 3-, 5-, or 6-partite, 

 sometimes obsolete, valvate in aestivation. Petals usually 4, or as 

 many as the lobes of the calyx, when the number of the latter varies 

 from 4, inserted in the throat of the tube, deciduous, frequently 

 emarginate or bifid, convolute or twisted, rarely absent. Stamens 

 as many, or twice as many, as the lobes of the calyx, rarely only half 

 as many, inserted with the petals ; filaments distinct ; anthers 

 2-celled, introrse. Ovary inferior, adnate with the calyx-tube, 

 4-, 2-, or rarely 1-celled ; placentae in the axis ; ovules definite or 



