PURSLANE FAMILY. 69 



21. PORTULACACE^, PURSLANP: FAMILY. 

 Succulent-leaved herbs, with 2 sepals and 5 petals, the stamens 

 sometimes many, sometimes few, and then one before each petal ; 

 ovary 1-celled, becoming a pod, with many or few kidney-shaped 

 seeds on a central placenta, or on slender seed-stalks from the base. 

 Seeds as in the Pink Family. 



1. PORTULACA. Stamens more numerous than the petals. Stvle cleft into 



several slender divisions. Lower part of the ovarv and manv-seeded pod 

 united witli tlie bottom of the calyx; the upper part when matire falling oflf 

 as a lid. Flowers opening only once, in sunshine. 



2. TALINUM. Stamens more nutnerous than the petals. Style 3-lobed at the 



siimmit. Calyx free from the ovary, deciduous. Pod 3-valved, many-seeded. 



Flowers opennig only once, in sunshine. 

 8. CALANUKINIA. Stamens numerous. Style 3-cleft at the summit. Calyx 



fiee from the ovary, persistent, enclosing the 3-valved manv-seeded pod. 



Flowers opening only once, in sunshine. 

 4. CLAYI'ONIA. Stamens 5, one attached to the base of each petal. Style 



3-cleft at the summit. Calyx persistent, fiee from the few-seeded pod. 



Flowers usually opetiing for more than one day. 



1. PORTULACA, PURSLANE. (Old Latin name for Purslane.) Leafy 

 and branching, low and spreading, with fleshy sessile leaves ; fl. all summer. 

 (Lessons, p. 103, fig. 214.) (T) 



P. oleracea, Common p. Very smooth, with prostrate stems, obovate or 

 wedge-form leaves, and small sessile flowers opening only in bright sunshine 

 and for a short time ; the petals pale yellow. The commonest garden weed, 

 sometimes used as a pot-herb. 



P. pil6sa. Hairy P. Wild far S., has linear terete leaves, with a tuft of 

 beard-like hairs in the axils, and rather large pink flowers. 



P. graudifldra, Great-floweked P., is probably a variety of the last, 

 from South America, commonly cult, for ornament ; the large very showy 

 flowers biilliant purple, crimson, red, sometimes white or yellow, or with light 

 centre, of many shades or variations. 



2. TAIiINUM. (Name unexplained.) One wild species in some places. 

 T. teretifdlium, Terete-leaved T. Low and smooth, with thick and 



fleshy root, short stems bearing crowded linear terete leaves, and a slender 

 naked peduncle, many-flowered ; petals rose-purple. Serpentine rocks, Penn- 

 sylvania, and rarer west and south : fl. all summer, yi 



3. CALATTDRINIA. (Named for a Swiss botanist, Calandrini.) Culti- 

 vated for ornament in choice gardens : fl. all summer. 



C. discolor. Cult, as an annual, from Chili ; very glabrous, making a 

 rosette of fleshy spatulate leaves at the root (these glaucous above and tinged 

 with purple beneath), and sending up a naked flower-stem, bearing a raceme of 

 large rose-purple flowers, 2' in diameter. 



C. Meuzi&sii, Menziks' C. Low, spreading, leafy-stemmed annual, from 

 Oregon and California, with bright green and tender lance-spatulate leaves, and 

 crinison flowers (neai-ly 1' broad) in a short leafy raceme. 



4. CLAYTONIA, SPRING BEAUTY. (Named for John Chi/ton, an 

 early botanist in Virginia.) Low, smooth herbs : ours producing only a pair 

 of stem leaves and a short raceme of flowers. 



» Stem simple from a round tuber : leaves separate : fl. early spring. % 



C. Virginioa, Narrow-leavkd S. In moist woods, one of the prettiest 



spring flowers ; petals rose-color with pink veins ; leaves linear-lanceolate. 

 C. Carolmi&lia, Broader-leaved S. In rich woods ; commonest N. 



and along the AUeghanies, smaller than the other, with oblong-spatulate or 



lance-oblong leaves only 1' or 2' long. 



