CARYOPHYLLACE^f:. 35 



Plate 112. 



MGEHRINGIA, L. 



Petala integerrima. Stamina 8 v. 10. Ovarium 2-4-lo- 

 culare : styli totidem. Capsula in valvas recurvatas duplo 

 stylorum numero dehiscens. Semina plura, strophiolata. — 

 Folia exstipulata, patula, ovata, oblonga, seu linearia. 



McEHRiNGiA et ArenarivE Sp., Linn. Gen. et Auct. (Gsertn. Fr. t. 129). 

 McEHRiNGiA, Fenzl in Endl. Gen. 5235, & in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 1. p. 

 371. Torr. Fl. N. Y. l.p. %'. 



Calyx of four or five herbaceous sepals, united at the 

 base, imbricated in aestivation, persistent. Petals as many 

 as the sepals and alternate with them, more or less perigy- 

 nous, obovate or oblong, entire, imbricated (or occasionally 

 convolute!) in aestivation, deciduous. Stamens twice as 

 many as the petals (8 or 10) : filaments subulate, pubescent 

 or smooth, inserted into the edge of a nearly hypogynous 

 disk : ANTHERS introrse, two-celled, the cells opening longi- 

 tudinally. Ovary plainly divided in M. lateriflora into as 

 many cells as there are styles by manifest dissepiments : 

 STYLES 3 (opposite the two outer sepals and the sinus be- 

 tween the third and fifth), sometimes 2 or 4, the inner face 

 stigmatose. Ovules rather numerous, borne on a central 

 columnar placenta, amphitropous. 



Capsule membranaceous, one-celled, dehiscent into twice 

 as many valves (usually 6) as there are styles. Seeds few 

 or rather numerous, reniform, campylotropous, smooth and 

 shining, distinctly strophiolate at the hilum. Embryo coiled 

 around the outside of the farinaceous albumen into a nearly 

 complete ring. 



Herbs with flaccid stems, and spreading, usually broad 

 and flat leaves, destitute of stipules. Peduncles terminal, 

 often becoming lateral by the evolution of an axillary branch. 

 Flowers white. 



