RANALES. 405 



1. Anychia polygondides Raf. Forked Chickweed. (I. F. f. 1522.) Pubes- 

 cent; stems mostly prostrate or ascending, much forked, 0.7-2 dm. high, the inter- 

 nodes often shorter than the leaves. Leaves narrowly elliptic, 4-8 mm. long, 1-2 

 mm. wide, mucronate or acute, sessile, or the ba<e tapering into a very short 

 petiole, usually numerous and crowded; flowers sessile in the forks, more or less 

 clustered, scarcely 1 mm. high. In dry woods, thickets and in open places, Me. to 

 Minn., Fla., Ala. and Ark. June-Sept. 



2. Anychia Canadensis (L.) B. S. P. Slender Forked Chickweed. (I. F. f. 

 1523.) Glabrous or nearly so; stem very slender or filiform, usually erect, 1.5-3 

 dm. tall, the internodes sometimes 2.5 cm. long, much longer than those of the 

 preceding. Leaves elliptic, oval or sometimes oblanceolate, 6-16 mm. long, 2-8 

 mm. wide, narrowed into petioles about 2 mm. long, not crowded ; flowers more or 

 less pedicelled. In dry woods, Ont. to Mass., Ga., Minn, and Ark. June-Sept. 



23. SCLERANTHUS L. 



Low annual herbs, with forking stems, opposite subulate leaves connate at the 

 base, no stipules and minute green clustered apetalous flowers. Calyx not bracted 

 deeply 5-lobed (rarely 4-lobed), the lobes awnless, the cup-like tube hardened. 

 Stamens 1-10, inserted on the calyx-tube. Ovary ovoid; styles 2, distinct; ovule 

 solitary, pendulous, amphitropous. Utricle 1 -seeded, enclosed by the calyx. [Greek, 

 referring to the hard calyx-tube.] About 10 species, of wide distribution in the 

 Old World, the following nat. from Europe as a weed. 



I. Scleranthus annuus L. Knawel. German Knotgrass. (I. F. f. 1524.) 

 Much branched, the branches prostrate or spreading, 7-13 cm. long. Leaves subu- 

 late, 4-25 mm. long, ciliate, light green, often recurved; tube of the calyx 10- 

 angled, rather longer than the lobes, the lobes somewhat angled on the back and 

 their margins incurved. In fields and waste places or on dry rocks, Quebec and 

 Ont. to Penn. and Fla. Nat. from Europe. March-Oct. 



Order 15. RANALES. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees. Calyx present, usually of separate sepals. 

 Corolla usually present and of separate petals. Ovary or ovaries superior, 

 free from the calyx ; carpels 1 to many, usually separate. Stamens mostly 

 hypogynous and more numerous than the sepals. 



* Aquatic herbs; floating leaves peltate, or with a basal sinus. 

 Carpels 3 or more; petals large; floating leaves not dissected. Fam. 1. Nymphaeaceae. 

 Pistil 1; petals none; leaves whorled, all submersed and dissected. 



Fam. 2. Ceratophyllaceae. 

 * * Land or marsh plants (some Ranunculaceae aquatic.) 

 btamens numerous ; sepals distinct ; petals present (except in some Ranunculaceae and in 

 Calycocarpum of the Menispermaceae). 

 Receptacle not hollow; leaves alternate (except in Clematis). 



Flowers perfect (except in some species of Clematis and Thalictrum). 



Fruit aggregate, cone-like; trees; sepals and petals in 3 series, or more, of 3. 



Fam. 3. Magnoliaceae. 

 Fruit not aggregate; the carpels separate, at least when mature. 

 Anthers not opening by valves; pistils usually more than 1. 



Sepals 3; petals 6; shrubs or trees. Fam. 4. Anonaceae. 



Sepals 3-15; petals (when present) about as many ; our species herbs 

 or vines (Xanthorrhiza shrubby). Fam. 5. Ranunculaceae. 



Anthers opening by valves (except in Podophyllum); pistil 1. 



Fam. 6. Berberidaceae. 

 Dioecious climbing vines with simple leaves ; fruit drupaceous. 



Fam. 7. Menispermaceae. 

 Receptacle hollow, enclosing the numerous pistils and achenes; opposite-leaved 

 shrubs. Fam. 8. Calycanthaceae. 



Stamens 9 or 12, in 3 or 4 series of 3 ; anthers opening by valves ; aromatic trees or shrubs 

 with no petals, more or less united sepals, and 1 pistiL Fam. 9. Lauraceae. 



