98 FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 
closely related to the Pink family (Caryophyllaceae) but differ in the 
calyx, which consists commonly of only two sepals. The petals are 
frequently large and showy, but always evanescent; they are four. or 
five in number, and like the stamens are hypogynous, that is, they are 
inserted on the axis beneath the pistil. The ovary is 1-celled, becom- 
ing in fruit a capsule which opens either by three valves, or is circum- 
scissile (see above). 
Our familiar garden representative of this family is the portulaca 
(Portulaca sp.), which is remarkable for the brilliancy and variety of 
coloration displayed by its flowers. The common purslane or “ pusley ” 
is also a species of Portulaca, though scarcely so highly esteemed. 
Claytonia, the spring beauty, is one of the daintiest of our wild flowers 
in the eastern States; in the west the species are much more numer- 
cus, although none of them surpass C. Virginica in beauty. Lewisia, a 
genus of the western plains, has large pink flowers and very fleshy 
leaves. An entire plant, only slightly reduced, is shown in Fig. 81. 
Family Basellaceae. Basella Family. Six genera and about 16 
species, mostly tropical American fleshy twining vines. They have 
been frequently united with the Chenopodiaceae, but differ in the posi- 
tion of the stamens and in the bracts around the base of the calyx. 
Boussingaultia, the Madeira-vine, is common in cultivation. 
Fig. 82. The white campion (Silene 
alba), the detached calyx natural size. 
Original. 
