tOETULACACE^. (PURSLANE FAMILl.^ 6a 



by conspicuous large silvery bracts ; calyx hairy, short-awned ; petals mere teeth 

 between the stamens. % — Slides in the Notch of the White Mountains, New 

 Hampshire, and bare summits above : a recent discovery. Alleghany Moun- 

 tains from Virginia southward. July. 



2. P. dichotoma, Nutt. Smooth, tufted ; stsm^(6'-12' high) ascend- 

 ing from a rather woody base ; leaves and bracts awl-shaped ; cymes open, many- 

 times forked ; sepals shoi't-pointed ; minute bristles in place of petals. \ — 

 Rocks, Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and southwestward. July - Sept. 



Suborder IV. SCLiEBANTHEiE. The Knawel Family. 



18. SCLERAl^THUS, L. Knawel. 



Sepals 5, united below in an indurated cup, enclosing the 1-seeded utricle. 

 Petals none. Stamens 10 or 5. Styles 2, distinct. — Homely little weeds, with 

 awl-shaped leaves, obscure greenish clustered flowers, and no stipules. (Name 

 fi'om (T/cXijpos, hard, and &v6os,flmoer, from the hardened caJyx-tube.) 



1. S. Annuus, L. Much branched and spreading (3' -5' high) ; flowers ses- 

 sile in the forks ; calyx-lobes scarcely margined, (i) — Sandy waste places. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



Suborder V. WOlXXOixi^M. Indian-Chickweed Familt. 



19. mOIililJOO, L. Indian-Chickweed. 



Sepals 5, white inside. Petals none. Stamens hypogynous, 5 and alternate 

 with the sepals, or 3 and alternate with the 3 cells of the ovaiy. Stigmas 3. 

 Pod 3-celled, 3-valved, loculicidal, the partitions breaking away from the many- 

 seeded axis. — Low homely annuals, much branched; the stipules obsolete. 

 (An old Latin name for some soft plant.) 



1. M. vcrticillata, L. (Cakpet-weed.) Prostrate, forming patches.; 

 leaves spatulate, clustered in whorls at the joints, where the 1-flowered pedicels 

 form a sort of sessile umbel ; stamens usually 3. — Sandy river-banks, and cul- 

 tivated grounds. June -Sept. (An immigrant from farther south.) 



Order 22. PORTULACACE^. (Purslane Family.) 



Herbs, with succulent leaves, and regular but unsymmetrical Jloioers ; viz., 

 sepals usually fewer than the petals; the stamens opposite the petals when of 

 the same number, but often indefinite : otherwise nearly as Chickweeds. — 

 Sepals 2, rarely 3 or 5. Petals 5, or sometimes none. Stamens mostly 

 5 - 20. Styles 3-8, united below, or distinct, stigmatic along the inside. 

 Pod 1 - 5-celled, with few or many campylotropous seeds rising on slender 

 stalks from the base, or from a central placenta. Embryo curved around 

 mealy albumen. — Insipid and innocent herbs, with opposite or alternate 

 entire leaves. Corolla opening only in sunshine, mostly ephemeral, then 

 shrivelling. 



