CUCTJRBITACE2B. 



289 



II. PEPLIS. PEPLIS. 



Small glabrous annuals, with opposite entire leaves, and minute 

 axillary flowers. Calyx shortly campanulate, with 6 external and 6 

 internal smaller teeth. Petals very minute or none. Stamens 6. 

 Style very short, scarcely distinct. Capsule globular. 



A genus of very few species, widely spread over Europe, Asia, and 

 Africa. 



1. Common Peplis. Peplis Portula, Linn. (Fig. 354.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1211. Water Purslane.) 



A slightly branched annual, creeping 

 and rooting at the base, seldom above 2 

 or 3 inches high, but sometimes many 

 plants grow together in broad tufts or 

 patches. Leaves obovate or oblong, 

 seldom half an inch long, tapering into 

 a stalk at the base. Flowers sessile in 

 the axils of nearly all the leaves. Cap- 

 sules enclosed in the somewhat enlarged 

 calyx, but seldom attaining a line in 

 diameter. 



In wet ditches, and moist, watery 

 places, in central and southern Europe 

 to the Caucasus, extending northward into Scandinavia, but not re- 

 corded from Siberia or central Asia. Frequent in England and Ire- 

 land, less so in Scotland. Fl. all summer. 



Fig. 354. 



XXVIII. THE GOURD FAMILY. CUCURBITACE^. 



Herbs, with long stems, prostrate, or climbing by means of 

 axillary tendrils ; alternate, palmately-veined leaves ; and unisexual 

 flowers, either solitary or in bunches or racemes in the axils of the 

 leaves. Calyx 5-toothed. Petals united in a single 5-lobed co- 

 rolla or rarely distinct, inserted in the margin of the calyx. Sta- 

 mens in the male flowers inserted on the calyx or corolla ; anthers 

 curved, forming a wavy line on the short, thick filaments, which 

 are sometimes free, but often so combined as that the number of 

 stamens has been differently described as 5, or 3 only, or some- 



