282 DECANDRIA— DIGYNIA. Scleianthus. 



ought to be as evident in dried as in living specimens. Varieties 

 tan rarf ly stand this test. 



231. SCLERANTHUS. Knawel. 



Linn. Gen. 224. Juss.3l4. FI.Br.457. Lam. t. 374. Gartn. 



t.l26. 

 Knawel. Dill. Gen 94. t. 3. 



Nat. Ord. Fejjreculce. 31. Linn. MSS. Portulacccc. Juss. 86. 

 Akin to Chenopodece. Br. Pr. 4 1 2. Illecebrea; of" Brown. 

 Hook. Scot. p. 2. 260. See Br. Pr. ^IS.. 



Cal. inferior, of 1 leaf, tubular and ribbed at the base, con- 

 tracted at tlie summit of the tube ; limb in 5 deep seg- 

 ments ; permanent and hardened after flowering. Cor. 

 none. Filam. from 5 to 10, awl-shaped, erect, often un- 

 equal, shorter than the segments of the calyx, and pro- 

 ceeding from the top of the tube. A?ifk. roundish, of 2 

 lobes. G(?r/«. superior, roundish. Stales spreading, thread- 

 shaped, the lengdi of the stamens. Stigm. simple, downy. 

 Caps, ovate, very ihin, of 1 cell, inclosed in the tube of 

 the calyx. Seeds 2, convex at one side, flat on the other ; 

 embryo curved round the outside of the farinaceous 

 alhumcn. 



Dry rigid herbs., with opposite, linear, combined leaves. Fl. 

 greenish, aggregate, axillary and terminal; the flowering 

 branches downy at one side only. 



1. S. anniius. Annual Knawel. 



Calyx of the fruit with spreading, taper, acute segments. 

 Stems spreading. 



S. annuus. Linn. Sp. PI. 580. mild. v. 2. 660. Fl. Br. 458. Engl. 



Bot. V. 5. t.35\. Hook. Scot. 133. Fl. Dan. t. 504. Ehrh 



Herb. 34. 

 S. n. 1551. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 255. 

 Polygonon Germanis Knawel. Trag. Hist. 393./. 

 Polygonum selinoides, sive Knawel. Ger. Em. 566./. 

 Knawel. Raii Syn. 159. 

 Upright Knawel. Pet. H. Brit. t. 9./. 6, bad. 



In dry sandy fields common. 



Annual. July. 



Root small, tapering. Stems numerous, widely spreading, and 

 partly decumbent, round, \eafy, a little downy, branched and 

 many-fiowered at the upper part. Leaves linear, acute, pale 

 green, combined at the base by a membranous fringed border. 

 Fl. small, green, nearly sessile', part!} axillaiy, jiartlv collected 



