
PURSLANE FAMILY. Portulacaceae. 
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There are only one or two kinds of Spraguea, natives of 
North America; low herbs, not very succulent, with fleshy 
roots; the leaves alternate, or from the root; the small 
flowers in coiled clusters; the two sepals and the four petals 
all papery; the stamens one, two, or three in number; the 
style long, with two stigmas; the capsule roundish, with 
two valves, containing few or many, shining, black seeds. 
Sandy spots in the mountains are often 
oer brightened by lovely patches of the soft 
ie pink blooms of this attractive and odd- 
(Calypiridium) looking little plant. Near Wawona, on 
Pink the Glacier Point trail, I saw at least half 
Summer, autuma 44 acre of sand carpeted with beautiful 
Northwest 5 
rose-color. In moderate altitudes the 
plants are about ten inches tall, but they get dwarfish as 
they climb and on the mountain-tops they are only an 
inch or so high, with close mats of small leaves. They 
have strong tap-roots and the leaves are dull gray-green, 
tather thick and stiff but hardly succulent, and grow 
mostly in rosettes at the base, those on the stem having 
shrunk to mere bracts, with several, smooth, reddish 
stalks springing from among them. Each stem bears a 
close, roundish head, two or three inches across, consisting 
of many tightly-coiled tufts of shaded pink, each composed 
of innumerable, small, pink flowers, the papery, pink and 
white sepals and bracts being the most conspicuous part. 
They overlap each other and have daintily ruffled edges. 
The three stamens are long and protruding and the style 
long and threadlike.. The flower-clusters are like soft 
pink cushions, so the pretty little name of Pussy-paws is 
appropriate, both to form and coloring. Chipmunks are 
very fond of the small, black seeds. 
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