76 KEY AND FLORA 
Fruit a dark purple berry. A weed on waste ground. The young 
branches are often eaten like asparagus, and the root, known as 
“garget root,” is used in medicine.* 
29. AIZOACEA. Ick PLranr Famity 
Mostly fleshy plants, mainly natives of Africa. Flowers 
often large and showy. Stamens often doubled and some of 
them petal-like. Ovary 2-many-celled. 
[Our only very common genus belongs to a subfamily which 
has little resemblance to the fleshy “ice plants,” found in some 
gardens, which best represent the family as a whole.] 
MOLLUGO L. 
Low branching annuals. Sepals 5, greenish outside, white 
inside. Corolla wanting. Stamens 5, alternate with the 
sepals, or 3, alternate with the cells of the ovary. Capsule 
3-celled, many-seeded. 
1. M. verticillata L. Carrer Weep. Stems branching and form- 
ing radiating patches, Leaves clustered in apparent whorls at the 
joints of the stem, spatulate. Flowers in little sessile umbels at the 
joints. Stamens commonly 8. A troublesome weed in sandy soil and 
common on sandy beaches and river banks. 
30. PORTULACACEZ. Purstane FAmILy 
Generally herbs. Leaves opposite or alternate, entire; 
stipules dry and membranaceous. Sepals 2. Petals 4 or more, 
distinct or united below. Stamens 4 or more, hypogynous or 
perigynous. Ovary usually superior, 1-celled; style simple or 
3-cleft ; ovules 2-many. Capsule opening transversely with a 
lid, or 2-3-valved. 
I. CLAYTONIA L. 
Perennial. Stem simple, smooth, erect, 4-10 in. high. 
Leaves 2, opposite, smooth, succulent. Flowers in a terminal 
raceme. Sepals 2, ovate, persistent. Petals 5, sometimes 
joined at the base. Stamens 5, somewhat perigynous. Style 
3-cleft ; ovary 1-celled, 3—-6-seeded. 
