KEY. 135 



Petals oblong-linear. Not more perfect than abor- 

 tive flowers. Drupe with 4 horny, smooth nutlets. Flowers 

 on very slender, axillary peduncles, solitary or sparingly clus- 

 tered. Leaves deciduous, oval, entire, niucronate-pointed. 

 Nemopanthes Canadensis, D. €. (863). 



131. Apparent calyx cup-shaped, 8- to IG-toothed, the 

 teeth alternately petaloid. Apparent ordinary stamens about 

 12. Ovary with 3 bifid styles, and stalked. Herbs with a 

 milky juice 538 



Calyx of 2, 4, or 5 segments or pieces 132 



132. Calyx 2-cleft 206 



Calyx of more lobes or sepals 133 



133. Leaves twice- or thrice-ternately compound. Flow- 

 ers dioeciously polygamous, the sterile mostly apetalous.190 



Leaves simple. Flowers perfect 134 



134. Styles opposite the sepals. Annuals. Stem simple, 

 erect, 2-4 inches high, 1- or 2-flow£red. Leaves linear. 



Moenchia, Ehrh. 

 ( Cerasiium qitaternellum, Fenzl.) 

 Styles alternate with the sepals. Little, matted 

 herbs, annual or biennial. Leaves thread-like, oi> awl-shap- 

 ed. Flowers axillary. Sagina, L. (187 and 653). 



135. (83.) Petals more than 5 136 



Petals 5 144 



136. Petals 7 or 8 137 



Petals habitually 6 (or, in one genus, 6 or 9).. ..138 



137. Petals, stamens, and calyx-lobes habitually 7 (rare- 

 ly 6 or 8). Leaves 4-8 in a whorl at the top of a simple 

 stem. Flowers 1-4, peduncled, star-like, white. Fruit a pod. 



Trieutalis Americana, Pursh (372). 



Petals and stamens 8. Sepals 4, fugacious. Ova- 

 ly ovoid, at length gibbous-pointed ; stigma 2-lobed. Pod . 

 peai"-shaped, opening by a lid. Scape 1-flowered. The radi- 

 cal, long-petioled leaves parted into 2 half-ovate leaflets. 



Jeflfersonia diphylla, Pers. 



138. Calyx gibbous or spun-ed near the base, on the up- 

 per side, and commonly with 6 little processes in the sinuses. 



