D1APENSIA FAMILY. Diapensiacese. 



A^rU-Ma 



DIAPENSIA FAMILY. Diapensiacece. 



Low perennial herbs, or tufted shrubs of a mosslike 

 character, very closely related to the Ericacecethe at- 

 tachment of the stamens to the corolla being the prin- 

 cipal difference. with five-parted tiny flowers whose 

 style is tipped with a three-lobed stigma. Fruit a capsule. 

 . An interesting and pretty mosslike little 



erlng Moss plant common on the pine barrens of New 

 Pyxidanthera Jersey. The linear or lance-shaped leaves, 



rbulata scarcely ^ inch long, are medium green, 



shar P at tne ti P' and nail T at tlie base when 

 young ; they are crowded toward the ends 

 of the branches. The white or pale pink flowers are 

 small, with five blunt lobes between which are curiously 

 fixed the five conspicuous stamens ; they are numerous, 

 and apparently stemless. Branches prostrate and creep- 

 ing. 6-10 inches long. In sandy soil, dry pine barrens. 

 From N. J., south to N. Car. Found at Lakewood, 

 N. J. The name is from two Greek words, box and an- 

 ther, referring to the anthers which open as if by a lid. 



PRIMROSE FAMILY. Primulacece. 

 Herbs with leaves variously arranged, and with per- 

 fect, regular flowers. The corolla (usually five-cleft) is 

 tubular, funnel-formed, or salver-formed. Stamens as 

 many as there are lobes to the corolla and fixed opposite 

 to them, but the corolla lacking in the genus named 

 GJaux. Seeds in a one-celled and several- valved capsule. 

 A peculiar aquatic plant of a somewhat 

 Hottonia s P on gy nature, common in shallow stag- 



inflata nant water. Its strange appearance is 



White due to the cluster of inflated primary 



June-August fl ower . stal ij s w hich are about inch 

 thick, constricted at the joints, and almost leafless. The 

 leaves are cut into threadlike divisions, and are beneath 

 the water, densely distributed on the floating and root- 

 ing stems. The insignificant whitish flower, inch 

 long, has a corolla much shorter than the calyx. The 

 seed-capsule is globular. Stems sometimes 18 inches 

 long. Shallow ponds and ditches, from Mass., to cen- 

 tral N. Y. , and south. Named for Peter Hotton, botanist 



340 



