152 BOTANY. 
below ; anthers two-celled, bursting longitudinally. Torus fleshy, filling up 
the bottom of the calyx, supporting the ovaries on its middle and the petals 
and stamens on its margin. Ovaries five, opposite to the petals, distinct, 
each with a long style arising from the inner angle near the base; ovules 
in pairs, collateral, erect, straight, with the foramen at the opposite 
extremity from the hilum (id est, orthotropus). Fruit of five coriaceous, 
pyriform, indehiscent carpels. Seeds solitary, uncinate, attached to the base 
of the carpels; albumen none. Embryo of the same shape as the seed ; 
radicle as long as the cotyledons, at the opposite end from the hilum ; 
cotyledons oblong, fleshy, incumbent. Sea side shrubs. Leaves simple, 
oblong-spatulate, thickish, pubescent, crowded at the apices of the branches, 
exstipulate. Flowers yellow, bracteate, somewhat terminal. Suriana, the 
sole genus, is represented in Florida by S. maritima. 
Orpver 135. Paronycutacea, the Knotwort Family. Sepals four to five, 
distinct or cohering. Petals perigynous, between the divisions of the calyx, 
usually inconspicuous, sometimes 0. Stamens usually perigynous, some- 
times hypogynous, opposite to the sepals when equal to them in number, 
some of them occasionally wanting; filaments distinct, rarely united ; 
anthers bilocular. Ovary superior, with one or more ovules ; styles two to 
three, distinct or combined. Fruit unilocular, either a utricle covered by 
the calyx, or a three-valved capsule. Seeds either numerous, attached to a 
free central placenta, or solitary and pendulous from a long funiculus 
arising from the base of the fruit. Embryo more or less curved, on one 
side of farinaceous albumen, or surrounding it. Herbaceous or somewhat 
shrubby plants, with opposite or alternate, sometimes setaceous and 
clustered leaves, which are either exstipulate or have scarious stipules. 
Found in barren places in various parts of Europe, Asia, and North 
America. They have no known properties of importance. The order has 
been divided into two sections: 1. Illecebrez, with the embryo lying on 
one side of the albumen, and stipulate leaves. 2. Scleranthee, with a 
peripherical embryo, and exstipulate leaves. There are twenty-eight known 
genera, and nearly 120 species. Examples: *Paronychia, Ilecebrum, 
*Polycarpon, Corrigiola, Scleranthus. 
Orper 136. Porrutacace#, the Purslane Family. Sepals two, cohering 
at the base. Petals usually five, rarely wanting, distinct or cohering at the 
base, sometimes hypogynous. Stamens usually perigynous, variable in 
number, all fertile, opposite the petals when of the same number ; filaments 
distinct ; anthers versatile, bilocular, with longitudinal dehiscence. Ovary 
free or partially adherent, one-celled, formed by three united carpels; style 
single or 0; stigmas several. Fruit capsular, one-celled, opening by 
circumscissile dehiscence, or by three valves, occasionally monospermous 
or indehiscent. Seeds numerous or definite, or solitary, attached to a 
central placenta; albumen farinaceous; embryo peripherieal ; radicle long. 
Succulent shrubs or herbs, with alternate, seldom opposite, entire, exstipulate 
leaves, often having hairs in their axils. They are found in various parts 
of the world, chiefly, however, in South America and at the Cape of Good 
Hope. They have a great affinity to Caryophyllacez, from which they are 
152 
