1 \S AIZOACEAE. 



many-flowered head, or calyx-like and containing 1 to many flowers. Corolla 



Qone. Calyx tubular, colored like a corolla, 4 to 5-lobed, its persistent base 

 constricted over the 1-celled 1-seeded superior ovary, forming a hardened 

 pericarp-like covering to the achene. Stamens 3 to 5, slender, hypogynous or 

 perigynous. Embryo coiled, with broad foliaceous cotyledons, the endosperm in 

 the center. 



1. ABRONIA Juss. 

 Ours perennial seaside herbs with viscid herbage. Peduncles axillary or ter- 

 minal, bearing a many-flowered head subtended by 5 to 15 distinct involucral 

 bracts. Flowers showy. Calyx-tube elongated, its spreading limb 5-lobed, the 

 lobes emarginate. Stamens commonly 5, unequal, included in the tube and ad- 

 nate to it. Style included. Persistent base of calyx indurated, 3 to 6-winged, 

 more or less reticulate, enclosing a cylindrical achene. Embryo with one cotyle- 

 don. (Greek abros, graceful.) 



Calyx rose-purple; wings of the fruit thin but solid 1. A. umbcllata. 



Calyx yellow; wings thicker, the central cavity of the fruit extending through them.... 



2. A. lati folia. 



1. A. umbellata Lam. Common Sand-Verbena. Stems slender, prostrate, 

 viscid, 1 to 3 ft. long; leaves nearly glabrous, roundish or ovate to narrowly 

 oblong, the margin often somewhat sinuate, 1 to 1% in. long, narrowed at base 

 to a slender petiole; heads 10 to 15 -flowered, peduncles 2 to 6 in. long; involu- 

 cral bracts narrowly lanceolate, 2 or 3 lines long; calyx rose-purple, 6 to 8 lines 

 long; fruit rigid and hard, oblong, attenuate at each end, 4 to 5 lines long. 



Common on the whole California seacoast. June-Oct. 



2. A. latifoliaEsch. Yellow Sand-Verbena. Stems stout, 1 to 2 ft. long, 

 prostrate, only trie leaves and flowering peduncles ascending or erect; herbage 

 very succulent; leaves broadly ovate to suborbicular and broader than long, 

 truncate or reniform at base, y 2 to 1% in. long; peduncles usually exceeding 

 the leaves; bracts 5, broadly ovate, 2 lines long; flowers somewhat fragrant; 

 calyx yellow, 6 lines long; fruit coriaceous, 4 to 6 lines long, acute at each end. 



Common along the seashore from Monterey northward. May-Nov. 



AIZOACEAE. Carpet- Weed Family. 



Ours prostrate or decumbent herbs. Flowers perfect and regular, either 

 solitary or clustered. Calyx 4 or 5-lobed or -parted, either free from or more 

 or less adnate to the ovary. Stamens hypogynous or commonly perigynous, 

 fewer than the sepals or more numerous. Fruit a loculicidal or circumscissile 

 capsule or indehiscent. 



Calyx free from the ovary; petals none; leaves opposite. 

 Capsule loculicidal, 3-valved; sepals 5; ovary 3-celled. 



Stamens 3 to 5 ; herbage glabrous 1. Mollugo. 



Stamens 5 to 10; herbage soft-pubescent 2. Glints. 



Capsule circumscissile; calyx 5-cleft. 



Stipules scarious, laciniate; ovary 1-celled; stamens 1 to 3 3. Cypsei.ea. 



Stipules nunc; ovary 3 to 5-celled; stamens numerous 4. Sesuvium. 



Calyx adnate to the ovary. 



Petals none; leaves alternate, plane: fruit indehiscent 5. Tetragon i a. 



Petals numerous; leaves opposite, 3-sided and very fleshy; fruit dehiscent 



6. Mesem bryanthemum. 



1. MOLLUGO L. Carpet Weed. 

 Li>\\ glabrous much-branched annuals with whoxled leaves and obsolete stip- 

 ules. Rowers axillary, on slender pedicels. Sepals 5, scarious-margined, white 

 within, thus resembling petals when expanded, persistent. Petals none. Sta- 



