PORTULACACE^E. ]_4l 



6. PORTULACA SCLEROCARPA, Sp. Nov. 



P. (Teretifolice) radice carnosa tuberosa; foliis subidatis fasciculis pilo- 

 rum paullo longioribus; floribus sessilibus ad apicem ramorum con- 

 gestis (pallidis) ; capsida sphcerica coriacea juxta basim sero circum- 

 scissa; seminibus Icevibus. 



Hab. Sandwich Islands : district of Waimea, Hawaii. Also ? on 

 sand-hills, Maui. 



Boot fleshy and tuberous, about half an inch in diameter, apparently 

 not ligneous. Stems also thickened at the base, 2 or 3 inches high, 

 much branched. Leaves terete, subulate, 4 lines long, crowded, 

 resembling those of P. pilosa, somewhat exceeding the copious tufts 

 of fulvous bearded hairs that clothe the nodes. Flowers sessile and 

 crowded at the apex of the branches, apparently smaller than in 

 P. pilosa, "very pale" (the particular colour not recorded). Capside 

 spherical, li to 2 lines in diameter, with very thick walls of a firm 

 coriaceous or almost crustaceous texture, adherent to the calyx-tube 

 only at the very base, a little above which it is marked with the cir- 

 cum-sessile line of dehiscence. The dehiscence is extremely tardy: 

 the ripe pods in the specimens fall away entire from the peduncle, and 

 afterwards open by the separation of the short basal portion (which is 

 also much thickened internally) only on the application of pressure. 

 Placentae 8, elongated, crustaceous, bearing many seeds on short funi- 

 culi. Seeds smooth, shining, minutely and closely areolate under a 

 powerful lens. 



Unless the fruit is in abnormal condition (of which there is no indi- 

 cation), this species is well distinguished by its spherical and almost 

 crustaceous capsule, which on a smaller scale somewhat resembles the 

 fruit of Coix Lachryma. The Hawaiian specimen is dwarf and de- 

 pressed ; that from Maui is taller, and more like P. pilosa, although 

 with a tuberous root; and having no ripe fruit, I am doubtful whether 

 it really belongs to this species. 



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