POKTULACACEvE. 229 



Plate 100. 

 SESUVIUM, L. 



Calyx 5-partitus, liber, persistens. Petala nulla. Stami- 

 na perigyna, 10 — 15 vel indefinita, rarius 5 sinubus calycis 

 inserta. Styli 3-5. Capsula 3 — 5-locularis, polysperma, 

 circumscisse dehiscens. — Herbae prostratee littorales, foliis 

 oppositis succulentis. 



Sescvium, Linn. Gen. 624. Jacq. Stirp. Amer. t. 05. Lam. III. t. 434. 

 DC. PI. Gras. t. 9, & Prodr. 3. p. 453. Wight & Am. Prodr. 

 Fl. Ind. Or. 1. p. 3G1. Endl. Gen. 5170. 



Calyx deeply five-cleft or five-parted, free, persistent ; the 

 sepals quincuncially imbricated in asstivation, herbaceous, 

 colored (purplish) inside, sometimes mucronate or comute 

 below the tip. Petals wanting. Stamens inserted on the 

 short tube of the calyx, rarely 5 and alternate with the se- 

 pals, oftener 10 to 15, or indefinite : filaments filiform : 

 anthers globular, didymous, introrse, the cells opening lon- 

 gitudinally. Ovary free from the calyx, 3 - 5-celled, with 

 the placenta? in the axis: styles 3 to 5, distinct, stigmatose 

 for the whole length of the inner side. Ovules numerous 

 in each cell, ascending on filiform funiculi arising from the 

 axile placenta. 



Capsule (pyxis) ellipsoid or oblong, membranaceous, 3- 

 5-celled, many-seeded, circumscissile as in Portulaca at or 

 below the middle, the upper part falling off as a lid. Seeds 

 reniform or globular, campylotropous, smooth. Embryo 

 curved around the outside of the farinaceous albumen, an- 

 nular or nearly so. 



Herbs prostrate, succulent and maritime ; with opposite 

 and entire fleshy leaves, and terminal or axillary and sessile 

 or short-peduncled flowers. 



