212 XYii. FRANKENiACE^. (M. P. Ed^eworth.) 



Stamens 4 or more, free, or connate at the base ; anthers versatile, 2-celled. 

 Ovary free, sessile, 1-celled ; style slender, stigma 2-5-lobed ; ovules many 

 in two rows, amphitropous with the micropyle below ; funicles slender. 

 Gapmle enclosed in the persistent calyx, opening by as many valves as there 

 are placentas. Seeds oblong or ovoid, hilum sub-terminal, raphe linear, 

 testa crustaceous ; embryo straight, in the centre of mealy albumen— A 

 single genus, with about 12 species, natives of dry sandy and especially 

 saline tracts. 



1. FRAMKEMXA, Linn. 



1. P. pulverulenta, Linn. ; annual, prostrate, leaves obovate retuse 

 or hoary beneath, calyx glabrous. — Boiss. Fl. Orient, i. 779. 



Plains of the Pdnjab and Sihdh, on Sola land. — Disteib. Eastward to S. Europe, 

 Senegal, and S. Africa. 



A Blender, exceedingly tranched, diffuse herb ; branches wiry, leafy, 6-18 in. long. 

 Leaves ^-^ in., very shortly petioled. Flowers pink, shorter than the leaves. Calyx 

 cjlindric, strongly ribbed. Petals small. 



Order XVIII. CARYOPHYI.I-E.ffi. (By M. P. Edgeworth, F.L.S., 

 & J. D. Hooker.) 



Herbs, rarely undershrubs ; branches opposite, usually jointed and 

 thickened at the joints. Leaves opposite, quite entire or serrulate, often 

 connate ; stipules scarious or 0. Flowers rarely 1-sexual. Sepals 4-5, free or 

 connate, imbricate in bud. Petah 4-5, rarely 0, inserted on a hypogynous 

 ring, rarely perigynous. Stamens 8 or 10, rarely fewer, inserted with the 

 petals ; anthers 2-celled, cells parallel opening lengthwise. 'Disk small and 

 annular, or elongated into a gynophore, or broken up into glands. Ovary 

 free, 1-celled, or imperfectly 3-5-ceUed ; styles 2-5, free, or connate 

 into a single style, stigmatose on the inner side ; ovules 2 or many, on 

 slender basal funicles, or with the funicles united into a column, amphi- 

 tropous. Capsule membranous or crustaceous, rarely fleshy, opening by 

 valves equal in number or double that of the styles, rarely indehiscent or 

 bursting irregularly. Seeds few or many, rarely solitary, reniform globose 

 obovoid or flattened on one side ; hilum marginal or central, albumen • 

 mealy, rarely fleshy ; embryo usually more or less curved and surrounding 

 the albumen, nearly straight in the discoid seeds, cotyledons narrow incum- 

 bent, rarely accumbent. — Disteib. Cosmopolitan, but chiefly Arctic, Alpine, 

 European and W. Asiatic ; Genera 35, species about 800. 



Tribe I. Slleneae. Calyx gamosepalous, 4-5-lobed. Petals clawed and 

 stamens inserted on an elongate gynophore (rarely sessile). Styles free. — 

 Stipules 0. 



Subtribe 1. Dianthe.e. Capsule dehiscent ; styles 2. Seeds peltate, 

 hilum facial ; embryo straight. 



Calyx braoteate, striate 1. Dianthds. 



Calyx braoteate or not, 5-15-nerved 2. Tdhica. 



Subtribe 2. DrypidEjE. Capsule indehiscent. Hilum lateral ; embryo 

 curved. 

 Calyx 5-15-nerved. Styles 2 . . . . ... .3. AcASTHOPHTLLnM. 



