CARYOPHYLLE^, 57 



10. T. patens, W. Suffruticose, erect ; leaves mostly opposite, oval, abruptly tapering 

 towards tlie petioliform base ; panicle terminal, elongated, leafless, bearing dichotomous 

 Cj/mes: pedicels filiform ; flowers cai'mine; stigmas divergent. — Jaeq. Jmer.Pict. 1. 136. — ' 

 Portulaca, Jacq. P. paniculata, Jacq. Tal. fruticosum, Maaf. {non W). — Stem almost 

 simple, l'-2' high, leafy to the middle, where the panicle begins ; sepals deciduous, roundish, 

 apiculate ; petals small, obovate (3'" long); stamens about 15-20; seeds very minutely gra- 

 nulose. — Hab. Jamaica!, Dial., March, on seaside rocks; [Cuba! and Mexico! to Buenos 

 ■^yresl, along the coast]. 



9. PORTULACA, T. 



Calyx 2-partite : tube adnate; limb deciduous. Petals 4-6, hemiepigynous, delicate. 

 Stamens 8-20, hemiepigynous. Style 3-8-partite. Capsule unilocular, circumscissile, many- 

 seeded. — Uppermost leaves tisually rosulate around the terminal fiowers. 

 - 11. P. oleracea, i. Annual ; leaves spathulate, rounded at the top, usually opposite : 

 axils glabrous ; flowers sessile, clustered or solitary ; calyx-divisions keeled ; petals yellow, 

 emarginate ; stamens 12-7 ; style 5-partite ; seeds minutely grannlose. — Gray, Gen. Bor. 

 Amer. 1. t. ^%~^^ common form grows together in Jamaica with : — 



i8. parvifitaiS^wfi. Leaves minute (2"'-4'" long) : axils often shortly pilose. — This form, 

 however, is not peculiar to the West Indies. 1 have observed the same in several localities 

 in southern Europe,, and I possess it also from Central America. 



Hab. Jamaica [Macf.) ; Barbadoes [Mayc.) ; [all tropical continents, and both temperate 

 zones of the globe]. 

 ,^ 12. P. pilosa, Z. Annual, snffrutesceut ; bfanchcs undivided; leaves suhcylindrical, . 

 acuminate, alternate : axils woolly ; flower-clusters encircled by wool ; calyx-divisions linear- 

 oblong, not keeled ; petals purple, emarginate ; stamens indefinite ; style 5-6-partite ; seeds 

 minutely granulose. — £ot. Beg. t. 792. — Hab. Jamaica, {Ma(^.); S. Vincent!, Guild., 

 in sandy, waste situations ; FTexas ! and New Mexico ! to Peru ! and Brazil !]. cLtA^ ^^-^/^ 



13. P. halimoides, L. Annual, suffrutescent, diffuse; branches vcsmettsSx^jTmigiate^ 

 leaves short, subcylindrical, acuminate, alternate ; axils hairy ; flower-clusters eucircled by > 

 a dense tuft of wool, and involucred; calyx-divisions ovate-lanceolate, not keeled; petals 

 yellow, emarginate; stamens about 20; style 3-5-partite; seeds grauulose. — SI. t. 129. y. 3. 

 — This approaches the preceding, but is easily distinguished by its peculiar ramification, and 

 by the shorter leaves (2"'-3"' long), — Hab. Jamaica, {Macf); [Desirade!, Guadeloupe!]. 



Tribe VI. PICOIBBJE. — Ovary syncarpous (or reduced to a single carpel iy abortion). 

 Stamens perigynous or epigynous. — Leaves as in Fortulacece. 



10. SBSUVIUM, L. 



Calyx 5-partite, coloured inside, persistent. Petals 0. Stamens indefinite (-5), perigy- 

 nous. Styles 3-5 (-6). Capsule 3-5-locular, circumscissile, many-seeded. — Leaves oppo- 

 site, succulent ; flowers axillary and terminal. 



14. S. portulacastrutn, L. Perennial; leaves lanceolate or lanceolate-oblong, flat, 

 tapering towards the sheathing base j flowers pedicellate ; styles 3-4. — Jacq. Amer. Fief, 

 t. 142.^ — My diagnosis is taken from the Caribbean plant, which agrees with Jacquin's 

 figure ; in it the calyx is white inside, while, according to Sloane and Macfadyen, in the Ja- 

 maica plant the flowers are purple. There are three species in Richard's ' Flora Cuben- 

 sis,' distinguished from each other chiefly by the shape of the leaves, the flowers being sessile 

 or pedicellate, and the number of styles : "Wight and Arnott, however, reduce all supposed 

 species of the genus to the variable S. portulacastrum of Linuseus. — Hab. Jamaica (Macf.), 

 and Caribbean Islands!, common on the sandy seashore; [New Mexico! and Florida! to 

 Patagonia 1 ; all tropical continents], 



11. TRIANTHEMA, L. 



Calyx 5-partite, coloured inside : divisions mucronate below the top. Petals 0. Stamens 

 10-5 (-20), perigynous. Styles 2-1 . Capsule biloculaf, with a spurious, placentary dis- 

 sepiment, or unilocular (if monocarpeUary), circumscissile near the base and below the upper 

 seeds ; the persistent base membranaceous ; the lid hai'dened and closed incompletely at 



