LIMNANTHACE^. 139 



Plate 154. 



FLOERKEA, Willd. 



Sepala 3, Petala 3, oblonga, calyce breviora. Stamina 6. 

 Ovaria 3, vel abortu pauciora. — Herba tenella, parviflora ; 

 foliis saepius 5-foliolatis. 



Floerkea, Willd. in N. Berl. Schrift. 3. p. 148. Nutt. Gen. 1. p. 228. 

 Lindl. in Hook. Jour. But. 1. p. 1. t. 1. R. Br. in Lond. & 

 Edinb. Jour. Sci. 1833. Torr. & Gray, Fi. N. Amer. 1. p. 210. 

 Endl. Gen. 6065. 



False Mermaid. 



Calyx of three herbaceous sepals, united at the base, a 

 httle imbricated in aestivation, persistent. Petals 3, oblong, 

 shorter than the calyx, inserted on the margin of a fleshy 

 perigynous disk which fills the base of the calyx, its thin 

 edge produced into three minute lobes, alternate with the 

 petals. Stamens 6, three alternate with the petals and in- 

 serted just within the lobes of the disk, and three opposite 

 them, marcescent : filaments subulate, distinct ; those op- 

 posite the sepals at first longer than the others : anthers 

 globular, didymous, fixed near the base, introrse, two-celled, 

 the cells opening longitudinally. Pistil of three carpels 

 (placed opposite the sepals), or sometimes only two, united 

 by their styles : ovaries globose, cohering only at their base 

 to an axis: style central, two -three-cleft at the summit: 

 stigmas terminal, capitate. Ovule solitary in each ovary, 

 erect from its base, anatropous. 



Fruit of three, or by abortion one or two, fleshy and 

 tuberculate-roughened globular achenia. Seed filling the 

 cell, the membranaceous testa cohering with the pericarp, 

 destitute of albumen. Embryo large ; the cotyledons thick 

 and fleshy, plano-convex : radicle very short, inferior, en- 

 tirely included within the notched base of the cotyledons : 

 plumule conspicuous. 



