10 CARYOPHYLLACEiE. 



Mollugo and its allies to the Purslane Family, although in all other respects 

 they agree with the Chickweeds. This character, however, is not applica- 

 ble when both series of stamens are present ; nor is it borne out by our 

 triandrous species of Mollugo, in which the stamens alternate regularly (not 

 with the sepals, but) with the cells of the ovary, one of them being conse- 

 quently situated directly opposite one of the inner sepals. (Plate 101, Fig. 

 1.) Some other diagnosis is therefore to be sought. 



Throughout the whole family, whenever there is a tricarpellary ovary in 

 a pentamerous flower, the carpels, or cells of the ovary, are not really placed 

 opposite the three exterior sepals, as is stated ; but one of them is situated 

 directly before the sinus between the third and the fifth sepals (and therefore 

 opposite a petal if there be any), while the two others, equally divergent 

 from this and from each other, stand opposite the two exterior (the first and 

 second) sepals; — these organs being numbered, of course, in the order in 

 which they occur in the quincuncial aestivation, beginning with the outer or 

 lowest one of the spiral. 



The plants of this family exhibit no marked sensible properties, and are 

 applied to no important use ; except that several, especially of the Pink 

 tribe, are cultivated for ornament, a few of these (such as the Clove Pink) 

 being also prized for the fragrance of their flowers. The greater part are 

 humble weeds. All are herbaceous, or barely suiTruticose. The Alsineae 

 are entirely bland and insipid, with a watery or mucilaginous juice ; the 

 Illecebreae have a slight aslringency ; while the Sileneae also exhibit traces of 

 a subacrid and saponaceous principle, which in Saponaria, &c., has received 

 the name of saponine, and is thought to possess alterative qualities, having 

 been used as a substitute for sarsaparilla. The root of Silene Virginica is a 

 reputed anthelmintic ; but its use for this purpose may probably have origi- 

 nated from the coincidence between its popular name, " Wild Pink," and 

 that of Spigelia Marilandica, which is called " Pmk-root." The seeds of 

 Lychnis Githago (Corn Cockle) are thought to injure flour. They doubtless 

 are a little acrid. 



Some representatives of the order occur in every flora. Far the greater 

 part belong to the northern hemisphere ; the Alsineae chiefly abounding in 

 the cooler or frigid, the others in the warmer temperate regions. Few are 

 found within the tropics, except on mountains, where the elevation gives a 

 cool climate. 



The perigynous insertion of the stamens, being also common in Alsineae, 

 will by no means distinguish the Illecebreae as a separate family, nor can the 

 stipules be deemed to furnish an ordinal character. Scleranthus differs from 

 the Illecebreae only in the total absence of stipules, and, we may add, in the 

 extxorse resupination of the ovule. Retaining the Mollugineae in this family, 

 but arranging it next to the Portulacaceae , which precede (Vol. I. pi. 97- 

 100) ; the whole order, as represented in the United Stales, may be disposed 

 as follows. 



