136 AIZOACEAE. 



cm. long; racemes erect, densely many-flowered, 1-3 dm. long; pedicels 1.5-4 

 mm. long; flowers greenish white or yellowish, 6-8 mm. broad; sepals rounded; 

 stamens 8-20; carpels 8-20; berry black, depressed-globose, about 8 mm. in 

 diameter. 



Waste and cultivated ground, and in coppices, Great Bahama, Andres, New 

 Providence, Bleuthera, Great Bxuma : — Cuba ; Jamaica ; Hispaniola ; continental 

 tropical America. Southern Poke-weed ob Poke-bdsh. Poek-bush. 



Family 6. AIZOACEAE A. Br. 



Carpet-weed Family. 



Herbs, rarely somewhat woody, mostly prostrate and branching, with 

 (in our species) opposite, more or less fleshy leaves, and perfect small regu- 

 lar flowers. Stipules none or searious, or the petiole-bases dilated. Calyx 

 4r-5-cleft or 4 — parted. Petals small or none in most species. Stamens 

 perigynous. Ovary usually free from the calyx, 3-5-eelled, and ovules 

 numerous in each cell in our genus. Fruit a capsule with loculicidal 

 or circumscissile dehiscence. Seeds amphitropous ; endosperm scanty or 

 copious ; embryo slender, curved. About 22 genera and 500 species, mostly 

 of warm regions, a few in the temperate zones. 



1. SESUVIUM L. Syst. ed. 10, 1058. 1759. 



Fleshy decumbent or prostrate herbs, with opposite leaves and axillary 

 pink or purplish flowers. Stipules none, but the petioles often dilated and 

 connate at the base. Calyx-tube top-shaped, 5-lobed, the lobes oblong, obtuse. 

 Petals none. Stamens 5-60, inserted on the calyx-tube. Filaments filiform, 

 sometimes united at the base. Ovary 3-5-celled. Styles 3-5, papillose along 

 the inner side. Capsule membranous, oblong, 3-5-celled, circumscissile. Seeds 

 round-reniform, smooth; embryo annular. About 4 species, natives of seacoasts 

 and saline regions. Type species: Sesiivium portulacastrum L. 



Stamens 5. 1. S. maritimiim. 



Stamens numerous. 2. jS. portulacastrum. 



1, Sesuvium maritimum (Walt.) B.S.P. Prem. Cat. N. Y. 20. 1888. 



Pharnaoeum maritimum Walt. Fl. Car. 117. 1788. 

 Sesuvium pentandrum Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 556. 1821. 



Annual, glabrous; branches 0.5-3 dm. long. Leaves obovate or spatulate, 

 entire, rounded or slightly emarginate at the apex, narrowed into a petiole or 

 the upper sessile, 8-25 mm. long; flowers sessile or nearly so, about 2 mm. 

 broad, mostly solitary; stamens 5, alternate with the calyx-lobes; capsule ovoid, 

 about 4 mm. high, scarcely longer than the calyx. 



Salinas and edges of mangrove swamps, Andros. Ship Channel Cay, Cat Island, 

 Long Island, Little San Salvador and Watling's : — Atlantic coast from Long Island 

 to Florida ; Cuba ; Porto Rico. Slender Sea Purslane. 



2. Sesuvium portulacastrum L. Syst. ed. 10, 1058. 1759. 



Perennial, fleshy, glabrous. Stems usually diffusely branched, the branches 

 prostrate, often creeping, forming large patches; leaves oblanceolate to oblong, 

 1.5-4 cm. long, acute or acutish, the bases clasping; flowers shorb-pedicelled, 

 solitary in the axils; calyx-lobes lanceolate, 7-10 mm. long, hooded, purple 



