XVII. PORTULACE.^. 93 



other a naturalised plant. The chief characters, derived irom the ovary and seeds, are those o^ 

 Caryophylleie, from which I'urtidiicete differ in habit, in the number and position of the stamens, 

 and especially in their calyx. -Benlh. in part. 



Ovary half-interior. Petals and stamens periyynous 1. Poiitulaci. 



Ovary superior. Petals and stamens hypogynous. 

 Petals free. 



Sepals very often deciduous. Stamens S or many. Seeds strophiolate . 2. Talinum. 



Stamens indefinite, often numerous, rarely and irregularly reduced to 5 . 3. Calandhinia. 



1. PORTULACA, Linn. 



(From the English name of Purslane.) 



Sepals 2, united at the base in a tube adnate to the ovary, the free part 

 deciduous. Petals 4 to 6, perigynous. Stamens indefinite, often numerous, 

 sometimes 6 to 8, inserted with the petals. Ovary half-inferior, with several 

 ovules. Style deeply 2 to 8-cleft. Capsule membranous, half-inferior, the free 

 part circumsciss at maturity. Seeds reniform, shining, often granulate. — Herbs, 

 more or less succulent. Leaves alternate or opposite, often clustered in the axils, 

 the floral ones usually forming an involucre round the flowers. Stipules scarious, 

 or more frequently reduced to a tuft of hairs, sometimes very minute or none. 

 Flowers terminal, sessile, or pedicellate. 



The species are mostly American, with a very few tropical Australian, Asiatic, or African 

 ones, 2 of them widely dispersed over cultivated or sandy places in various parts of the globe. 

 One of these is included among the Australian ones, of which the remainder are all endemic. — 

 Benth. 



Leaves mostly alternate. 



Stipular hairs minute or none. 

 Leaves oblong-ouneate. Eoot slender. Capsule closely sessile ... 1, P. oleracea. 

 Leaves linear-terete. Eoot usually tuberous. Capsule narrowed into a 



short stipes . . ... 2. P. napiformis, 



Stipular hairs numerous and conspicuous. 



Leaves thick and short 3. P. australis. 



Leaves linear-terete, almost filiform 4. P.filifolia. 



Leaves all opposite. 



Stipular hairs short, but conspicuous. Flowers usually 3, within the floral 



leaves, and shortly pedicellate. Style-lobes subulate 5. P. digyna. 



No stipular hairs. Flowers solitary and sessile, within 4 bract-like floral 

 leaves. Style-lobes flat and transparent. 



Leaves lanceolate or linear . . 6. P. oUgosperma. 



Leaves orbicular .... 7. P. Ucolor. 



Leaves cordate-orbicular 8. P. Armitii. 



1. P. oleracea (from being used as a pot-herb), Linn.; DC. Prod. iii. 853 ; 

 Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 16Q. " Thukouro," Cloncurry, PaZme;-. Pigweed, Alow, 

 prostrate, or spreading annual, seldom exceeding 6in., somewhat succulent, and 

 quite glabrous. Leaves mostly alternate, cuneate-oblong, obtuse, very rarely 

 exceeding fin., usually narrowed into a short petiole, the stipular hairs very 

 minute, and sometimes quite disappearing. Flowers terminal and sessile, between 

 2 or more floral leaves, rarely solitary, usually several together in little heads 

 which are either single or several in a dichotopaous cyme. Sepals not much 

 more than 2 lines long. Petals 5, scarcely longer than the calyx, slightly united 

 at the base, yellow and very fugacious. Stamens 10 to 12 or rarely fewer. Style 

 short, with 6 linear stigmatic lobes. Capsule sessile. Seeds minutely tuber- 

 culate, the funicles often united at the base into 5 clusters.— A. Gray, Gen. 111. t. 

 99 ; F. V. M. in Eep. Babb. Exped. 10. 



Hab.: Common. 



The stalks are roasted in the ashes, which softens them, then eaten ; also eaten raw. The 

 plant Is gathered in heaps, and after drying a little time the seeds fall off and are gathered 

 with mussel-shells, ground between two stones and roasted.— PaJmer-. 



Var. grandiftora. Sepals more obtuse, 3 to 4 lines long. Georgina River. 



The species is common in maritime or sandy localities in most tropical countries, extending 

 into the warm parts of the temperate regions, both of the northern and southern hemispheres. 



