PKIMULACE^. (primrose FAMILY.) 279 



spreading spikes ; calyx funnel-shaped, smooth, the lobes of the scarious limb 

 alternating with 5 smaller ones. — Salt marshes, Florida, and northward. Aug. 

 and Sept. — Seape J° - 2° high. Leaves 3 ' - 6' long. Flowers blue. 



2. PLUMBAGO, Tourn. Leadwokt. 



Calyx tubular, .5-ribbcd, 5-toothcd. Corolla salrer-shaped, .")-lobed. Stamens 

 5, inserted on the receptacle. Styles united. Stigmas linear. Utricle splitting 

 into valves from the base upward. — Herbs or shrubs, with alternate entire 

 mostly clasping leaves, and blue or white flowers in terminal spikes. 



1. P. scandeus, L. Shrubby ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, narrowed 

 into a clasping petiole ; calyx glandular-viscid, half as long as the tube of the 

 corolla ; lobes of the corolla ovate, white ; style smooth. — Soutli Florida. — 

 Leaves 2' - 3' long. Spike elongated. 



Order 87. PRIMULACEiE. (Primrose Family.) 



Herbs, with suTiplo alternate or opposite leaves, and regular flowers. — 

 Calyx 4 - 5-lobed, persistent. Corolla 4 - 5-lobed. Stamens 4-5, oppo- 

 site the lobes of the corolla, and inserted on its tube. Ovary free, or 

 partly adherent to the calyx, 1-celled, many-ovuled. Placenta central, 

 globose. Style single. Capsule l-ccUed, many-seeded, valvate or circum- 

 scissile. Seeds anatropous or amphitropous. Embryo straight in fleshy 

 albumen. 



Synopsis. 



* Ovary free from the calyx. 

 .*- Capsule opening by valves or teeth. 



1. IIOTTONTA. Corolla salver-shaped. Leaves pectinately dissected. 



2. LYSIMACIITA. Corolla wheel-shaped. Stems leafy. Leaves opposite, entire. 



3. DODECATHEON. Corolla wheel-shaped. Stemless. Leaves radical. 



H- -t- Capsule opening transversely. 



4. ANAGALLIS. Parts of the flower 5. Leaves opposite. Stamens bearded. 



5. CENTUNCULUS. Parts of the flower 4. Leaves alternate. Stamens beardless. 



* * Ovary partly adherent to the calyx. 

 6 SAMOLUS. Stamens 5, with sterile filaments interposed. Capsule valvate. 



1. HOTTOWIA, L. 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla salver-shaped, 5-lobed. Stamens 5. Style slender. 

 Capsule globose, at length splitting into 5 valves, which cohere at the base and 

 apex. Seeds fixed by the base, anatropous. — Aquatic perennial herbs, with 

 pectinately dissected leaves. Flowering stems mostly clustered, nearly leafless, 

 inflated, bearing at the joints whorls of small white flowers. 



1. H. iuflata, Ell. Flowering stems 3 - several in a terminal cluster, much 

 inflated ; upper stem-leaves crowded, with filiform divisions ; bracts entire. — 

 Ponds and ditches in the upper districts, Mississippi, and northward. June. 



