376 ILLECEBRACEAE (KNOTWORT FAMILY) 



ILLECEBRACEAE (Knotwoet Family) 



Herbs, with mostly opposite and entire leaves, scarious stipules (except in 

 Scleranthus), a i-5-toothed or -parted herbaceous or coriaceous persistent calyx, 

 stamens borne on the calyx, as many as the lobes and opposite them or fewer, 

 styles 2 and often united, and fruit a l-seeded utricle. Seed upon- a basal 

 funicle, the embryo (in ours) surrounding tlie mealy albumen. — Small diffuse 

 or tufted herbs, with small greenish or whitish flowers in clusters, or dichoto- 

 mous cymes, with petals minute or none. 



1. Scleranthus. Stamens borne on the throat of the Indurated 5-cleft and pointless calyx. 



Styles 2. Stipules none. 



2. Anychla. Stamens on the base of the 5-parted awnless calyx. Styles hardly any. 



8. Paronychia. Stamens on the base of the 5-parted calyx ; the sepals hooded at the summit 

 and bristle-pointed. Style 1, 2-cleft at the top. 



1. SCLERAnTHUS L. Knawel 



Sepals 5, united below into an indurated cup, inclosing the utricle. Stamens 

 10 or 5. Styles 2, distinct. — Homely little weeds, with awl-shaped leaves, ob- 

 scure greenish clustered flowers, and no stipules. (Name from <rK\rip6s, hard, 

 and S,v0os, flower, from the hardened calyx-tube.) 



'y^ 1. S. Annucs L. Much branched, spreading (7-12 cm. high); flowers sessile 

 in the forks ; calyx-lobes scarcely margined. — Waste places and roadsides. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. AN^CHIA Miohx. Eoeked Chickwebd 



Sepals 5, scarcely concave, indistinctly mucronate on the back, greenish. Sta- , 

 mens 2-3, rarely 5. Stigmas 2, sessile. Utricle larger than the calyx. Radicle 

 turned downward. — Small many times forked annuals, with small stipules ; the 

 minute flowers in the forks, produced all summer. (A contracted derivative of 

 Paronychia.) 



1. A. polygonoides Raf. More or less pubescent, short-jointed, low and 

 spreading; leaves somewhat petioled, mostly very narrowly lanceolate or ob- 

 lanceolate ; flowers nearly sessile and somewhat clustered. {A. dichotoma Man. 

 ed. 6, not Michx.) —Mostly in open places, N. E. to Fla., w. to Minn, and Ark. 



2. A. canadensis (L.) BSP. Smooth, longer-jointed, slender and erect ; leaves 

 thinner, broader and longer (1-3 cm. long) ; flowers more stalked and inflores- 

 cence diffuse. {A. dichotoma Michx.; A. capillacea DC.) — Dry woodlands 

 through nearly the same range; more abundant north w., and extending w. to 

 Neb. 



3. PARONlrCHIA [Tourn.] Adans. Whitlow-wobt 



Sepals 5, linear or oblong, concave, awned at the apex. Petals (or staminodia) 

 bristle-form, or minute teeth, or none. Stamens 5. Style 2-cleft at the apex. 

 Utricle inclosed in the calyx. Radicle ascending. — Tufted herbs (ours peren- 

 nial), with dry and silvery stipules, and clustered flowers. (Greek name for a 

 whitlow, and for a plant thought to cure it.) 



1. P. argyrdcoma (Michx.) Nutt. Forming broad tufts, freely branched, 

 few of the branches fertile ; leaves linear, flat, permanently silky ; inflorescence 

 densely cymose, surrounded by conspicuous large silvery bracts ; calyx hairy, 

 short-awned, the awns flattish and usually hairy ; petals mere teeth between 

 the stamens. — Rocky slopes among the mts., w. Va. to Tenn. and Ga. 



Var. albimont^na Fernald. Branches mostly floriferous; leaves glabrate, 

 the margins involute ; cymes mostly lax ; calyx usually longer, the awns subu- 

 late, glabrescent. — Bare mountain slopes, w. Me. and N. H. ; and locally by the 

 Merrimao R., Newburyport, Mass. 



