416 MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY". 



Yield numerous horticultural favourites, as 

 the Auricula, Primrose, Cowslip, Oxlip, &c. 



4. Family.— Rib- Worts (Plantaginacese). Herbs, 



often stemless ; leaves radical, ribbed ; flowers 

 hermaphrodite and spiked, or unisexual and 

 solitary ; corolla with a 4-parted limb ; sta- 

 mens alternate with segments ; ovary sessile ; 

 style one ; stigma hispid ; fruit capsular, 

 operculate ; seeds sessile, peltate or erect. 

 Distribution very general, but more abundant 

 in temperate regions. 



5. Family. — Sea-Pinks (Plumbaginacese). Herbs or 



under-shrubs ; leaves alternate or fasciculate, 

 exstipulate, somewhat sheathing at the base ; 

 calyx tubular ; corolla monopetalous or pen- 

 tapetalous ; stamens opposite petals ; ovary 

 free, 1 -celled ; styles five, seldom four or three, 

 each bearing a subulate stigma ; fruit mem- 

 branous, 1- seeded ; seed inverted. Inhabit 

 salt-marshes, and the sea-shores along the 

 Mediterranean, Southern Russia, also in 

 Affghanistan, Cabul, China, Australasia, the 

 Cape of Good Hope, Cape Horn, and in 

 Greenland. 



6. Family. — Water-leaves (Hydrophyllacese). Trees, 



shrubs, or herbs, often hispid; leaves opposite 

 or alternate, exstipulate, often lobed ; flowers 

 in gyrate racemes or unilateral spikes, occa- 

 sionally solitary and axillary ; calyx deeply 

 5-cleft ; corolla shortly 5-cleft ; aestivation 

 plicate or imbricate ; stamens alternate with 



