140 LIMNANTHACE^. 



Herb small and inconspicuous, decumbent, a little succu- 

 lent, annual ; the alternate leaves petioled, destitute of stip- 

 ules, pinnately five-foliolate, or the upper trifoliolate or three- 

 parted ; the leaflets lanceolate or oblong, entire or sometimes 

 two - three-cleft. Flowers small, solitary, on slender axil- 

 lary peduncles ; the minute petals white. 



Etymology. Dedicated by Willdenow to Floerke, an obscure German 

 botanist. 



Geographical Distribution. The single species of this genus grows 

 in marshes, and along the moist banks of streams, in the Northern and 

 Western United States. 



PLATE 154. Floerkea proserpinacoides, Willd.; — an entire plant, in 

 fruit and flower, of the natural size. 



1. Diagram of the flower. 



2. An open flower, magnified. 



3. Vertical section of a flower, more magnified. 



4. A stamen magnified, seen from within. 



5. The same, seen from the outside. 



6. Fruit (only two carpels ripened) and the persistent calyx, magnified. 



7. A carpel transversely divided, showing the cotyledons. 



8. The same vertically divided, so as to cut away one cotyledon. 



