CARPET-WEED FAMILY. 189 



ing patches, glabrous, not fleshy; leaves obovate or spatulate, entire, 

 clustered in whorls of 6 or 6, unequal, 7 lines long or less; flowers 

 several at each node; sepals oblong; capsule ovoid, scarcely exserted 

 from the calyx; seeds reniform, shining, nearly smooth, obviously 

 striate, crowded in the -capsule and irregularly distending its walls 

 which are thus roughened. 



Naturalized in California but not yet common: Healdsburg, Alice 

 King, 1897, the only reported Bay Kegion locality; Los Angeles, 

 Davidson, 1893; upper Sacramento, Breicer, 1862. 



2. CYPSELEA Turp. 



Inconspicuous prostrate herb with opposite leaves and scarious 

 laciniate stipules. Tube of calyx short, campanulate, the lobes (in 

 ours) 5, ovate, unequal. Petals none. Ovary superior, 1-celled; 

 style 2-cleft. Fruit a subglobose circumscissile capsule. Seeds 

 minute, smoothish, the funiculi persistent on the central placenta. 

 (Greek kupsele, a beehive, which the capsule is thought to resemble. ) 



1. C. humifusa Turp. Stems much branched and matted; leaves 

 2 to 6 lines long, oblong or elliptical, obtuse, the petioles slender, 

 nearly as long as the blade, those of each pair very unequal; stamens 

 3, rarely 1, inserted opposite the sinuses. 



West Indian weed naturalized in low lands: Lower San Joaquin; 

 Santa Cruz (ace. to Syn. Fl.). Aug. 



8. SESUVIUM L. 



Fleshy decumbent or prostrate herbs with opposite leaves and no 

 stipules. Flowers solitary in the axils, sessile or shortly pediceled. 

 Calyx-tube turbinate, the lobes 5, purplish, oblong, obtuse. Petals 

 none. Stamens (in ours) numerous, inserted on the calyx, united by 

 their filaments into sets. Ovary 3 to 5-celled, with as many separate 

 styles. Capsule membranous, the upper part falling off as a lid. 

 Seeds smooth. Embryo annular. 



1. S. sessile Pers. Lowland Purslane. Stems prostrate, 

 freely branching, 1 to 3 ft. long; herbage finely warty; leaves broadly 

 spatulate, J to 2 in. long; flowers 4 to 5 lines long; sepals ovate- 

 lanceolate, commonly acuminate, 3 lines long; filaments united for 

 about one-half their length. 



Elver lowlands and alkaline fields in the San Joaquin Valley; 

 Banta, Delano, etc. May-Aug. 



4. TETRAGON I A L. Sea Spinach. 



Succulent perennial herb with alternate plane leaves. Flowers 

 axillary, greenish, apetalous. Calyx 4-lobed, adnate to the 3 to 

 9-celled ovary. Stamens 1 to many, perigynous. Fruit a hard or 

 bony nut, indehiscent, enveloped by the calyx which bears several 

 horn-like protuberances. (Greek, tetra, 4, and gonu, knee or angle, 

 alluding to the fruit.) 



1. T. expansa Murr. New Zealand Spinach. Branches 

 procumbent or prostrate; leaves rhombic-ovate, entire, 4 to 5-nerved 



