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76 THE PINK FAMILY. [ Polycarpon. 
XIV. POLYCARPON. POLYCARP. | 
- Low annuals, with opposite, or apparently whorled, flat leaves, and 
scarious stipules. Sepals 5. Petals 5, very minute. Stamens 3 to 5. 
Styles very short, with 3 short linear branches. 
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* 
A genus of two or three Mediterranean species, very near to Sper=- 
gularia, but, in their minute petals and very short styles combined at the 
base, showing a further approach to Illecebracee. 
1. P. tetraphyllum, Linn. (fig. 172). Four-leaved Polycarp.—A 
glabrous, much branched, spreading or prostrate annual, seldom more 
than 3 or 4 inches long. Leaves obovate or oblong, really opposite, but 
placed as they usually are, under the forks, two pairs are so close together 
as to assume the appearance of a whorl of 4. Flowers very small and 
- numerous, in loose, terminal cymes ; the sepals barely a line long, and rather 
concave. Petals much shorter, and very thin. Stamens usually 3. 
In sandy situations, generally not far from the sea, in west Africa, south- 
western Europe, round the Mediterranean, along the Atlantic, and spread as 
an introduced weed over other parts of the world, perhaps indigenous in 
Australia. In Britain, only in the Channel Islands and from Cornwall to 
Dorset. £1. summer. 
XIII. PORTULACEA, THE PURSLANE FAMILY. 
More or less succulent. herbs, with entire leaves, usually 
opposite. Sepals 2 or rarely three. Petals 5 or rarely more, 
sometimes slightly united. Stamens either equal in number 
and opposite to the petals, or indefinite. Styles 2 to 8, united 
at the base. Capsule l-celled, with a free central placenta, and 
several seeds with a curved embryo and mealy albumen, as in 
Caryophyllacee. 
The family has a very wide geographical range, especially in North and 
South America, with a few species dispersed over the other quarters of the 
globe. It is nearly allied to the smaller species of Caryophyllace@, and to 
the Illecebracee, but easily known bythe calyx. Several species belong- 
ing to the exotic genera Portulaca (Purslane) and Calandrinia, as well as 
to Claytonia, are cultivated in our gardens. 
Petals 5, distinct. Stamens 5, opposite the petals . : : . 1. CuAyTonra. 
Petals united in a corolla, split open on one side. Stamens3 . . 2. Monria, 
I. CLAYTONIA. CLAYTONIA. 
Petals 5, free. Stamens 5, opposite to the petals and adhering to them 
at the base. Stigmas 3. Capsule opening in 3 valves, and containing © 
3 seeds. 
The genus comprises several species natives of North America or 
northern Asia, and is only admissible into the British Flora amongst 
naturalized aliens. 
1, C. perfoliata, Don (fig.173). Perfoliate Claytonia.—A glabrous green, 
somewhat succulent, annual, with numerous spreading prostrate or ascending 
stems, from a few inches to nearly a foot long. Radical leaves on long 
petioles, small, broadly ovate or almost reniform. Flowering stems with 
a single leaf below the flowers, nearly orbicular, concave, and quite per- 
foliate, the stem passing through the centre, evidently formed by the union 
