CARYOPHYLLACEiE. 15 



Plate 102. 



SCLERANTHUS, L. 



Calyx 5-fidus ; tubo urceolato seu infundibular!, fructifero 

 indurate fauce constricto utriculum membranaceum inclu- 

 dente. Corolla nulla. Stamina 10 fauci calycis inserta ; 5 

 alterna, ejusdem sinubus opposita, saepissime sterilia. Styli 

 2. Ovulum extrorsum resupinato-pendulum. Radicula su- 

 pera: cotyledones funiculum spectantes. — Folia lineari-su- 

 bulata, basi connata, exstipulata. 



ScLERANTHus, Linn. Gen. 562. Gaertn. Fr. t. 126. Schk. Handb. 1. 120. 

 R. Br. Prodr. p. 412. DC. Prodr. 3. p. 378. Nees, Gen. Fl. 

 Germ. 3. t. 77 (mal.). Endl. Gen. 5222. Torr. Fl. N. Y. 1. p. 

 108. 



Knawel. 



Calyx five-cleft (rarely four-cleft), herbaceous, persistent; 

 the lobes ovate, imbricated in aestivation, spreading during 

 anthesis, afterwards connivent, and the throat constricted, 

 becoming indurated in fruit as well as the urceolate tube 

 which incloses the utricle. Corolla none. Stamens inserted 

 on the throat of the calyx, twice as many as its lobes ; those 

 opposite the lobes (or rarely fewer) antheriferous ; the alter- 

 nate ones reduced to mere sterile filaments, or sometimes 

 perfect : anthers introrse, two-celled, didymous, the cells 

 somewhat diverging at the base, opening longitudinally. 

 Ovary one-celled : styles 2, distinct, stigmatose for the 

 whole length of the inner side. Ovule solitary, campylo- 

 tropous, resupinate on the recurved apex of a long and 

 filiform funiculus which rises from the base of the cell ; the 

 micropyle superior. 



Fruit a hyaline utricle inclosed in the indurated tube of 

 the calyx. Seed resupinate, lenticular, rostellate, smooth. 

 Embryo coiled into a complete ring, surrounding the central 



