PLATE 593. 



PoRTULACA OAFFRA, Thb. (Fl. Cap. Vol. I., p. 385, sub Talinum.) 

 Nat. Order, PoETULAOACE^. 



A perennial fleshy herb with tuberous rootstock and yellow flowers, sometimes, 

 perhaps always, several stemmed.. Stems simple or branched, 6 to 1 2 inches high, 

 terete, ascending, glabrous. Leaves alternate, exstipulate, petiolate, linear- 

 lanceolate, or ob-lanceolate, acute, tapering gradually to the petiole, glabrous, 

 -J to 1 ^ inch long, 2 to 4 inches wide, petiole 1 to 2^ lines long. Peduncles solitary, 

 as long, or longer than the leaves, swollen at apex, bracteate about two -thirds 

 above the base. Sepals 2, ovate, shortly acuminate, 2 lines long, petals 5, ovate, 

 acute, longer than the sepals. Stampns 15 to 30, inserted at base of calyx, and 

 shorter than the petals. Ovary sessile, free, 1-celled, many ovuled. Style filiform, 

 3-fid at apex. Capsule 3-valved, many seeded, seeds sub-compressed, concentric, 

 striated, black. 



Habitat: Natal. Stony hill Inanda, 1,500 ft. alt. October, Wood 1372; 

 Camperdown, 2,000 ft. alt. November Miss Franks (Wood 11,945.) 



The order Portulacaceae is but a small one, containing according to the Genera 

 Plantarum less than 130 species, of which about 16 or 1 8 belong to the genus 

 Portulaca, the only plant of any importance in the Order is Portulaca oleracea, 

 the common " Purslane " which was formerly cultivated in Europe as a pot-herb, 

 and thought to have diuretic properties, but is now I think seldom seen in 

 cultivation. The plant above described was formerly known as Talinum caffrum, 

 B. & Z., but has lately been moved to the genus Portulaca. 



Fig. 1, calyx; 2, flower, two of the petals removed ; 3, stamens, back and 

 front view; 4, pistil; 5, cross section of ovary; 6, capsule; 7, seed; all enlarged, 



