172 



AMARANTACEJE. 



minute, green, in clusters, crowded, sessile. Sepals united at base. 

 Petals and stamens as in Paronychia. Fruit a 1-seeded indehiscent 

 nutlet, with a thin pericarp, enclosed in the calyx. (From the Latin 

 hernia, a rupture, which one species was thought to cure.) 



1. H. cinerea DC. Low, but erect plants, 1 to 1\ in. high, with 

 hispidulous herbage, branched from base, the branches bearing 

 2-ranked branchlets; leaves oblong-oblanceolate, \\ to 1\ lines long; 

 flowers in all the axils, even the lowest; calyx \ line long, very 

 hispid. — (Paronychia pusilla Greene.) 



San Joaquin region at the edge of the foothills on either side of the 

 valley: naturalized from southern Europe. May-June. 



13. PENTAC/ENA Bartl. 



Tufted perennials with subulate pungent leaves and silvery-hyaline 

 stipules. Flowers sessile, clustered in the axils. Sepals 5, almost 

 distinct, very unequal, hooded, the 3 outer larger, and with a stout 

 divergent terminal spine, the 2 inner smaller and with a shorter 

 spine. Petals minute, scale-like. Stamens 3 to 5, inserted at the 

 base of the sepals. Style very short, bifid. L^tricle enclosed in the 

 rigid persistent calyx. (Greek pente, five, and akaina, a thorn, the 

 five sepals spine-tipped.) 



1. P. ramosissima H. & A. Sand Mat. Stems prostrate, 

 forming dense mats 5 to 18 in. broad, pubescent; leaves crowded on 

 the stems, 3 lines long, the stipules £ or sometimes nearly as long; 

 calyx H to 2 lines long; sepals hairy or woolly below the divergent 

 spinose apex; utricle apiculate. 



Along the entire Californian coast; common on the San Francisco 

 sand hills. Apr. -May. 



14. PARONYCHIA L. Whitlow-wort. 



Prostrate tufted perennial, with scarious stipules and clustered 

 flowers. Sepals 5, linear or oblong, concave or cucullate under the 

 apex, the very tip aristate or cuspidate. Petals filament-like, or 

 minute teeth, or none. Stamens 5, alternating with the petals 

 when these are present, inserted on the base of the sepals. Ovary 

 1-ovuled. Fruit a utricle enclosed in the persistent calyx, at length 

 bursting longitudinally. (Greek paronuchia, a whitlow, or felon, the 

 name applied to an herb used as a remedy for the disease.) 



1. P. Chilensis DC. Stems long, tough, with short internodes 

 from a tufted crown, prostrate; leaves oblanceolate, acute, cuspidate, 

 2 to 4 lines long, much crowded on the branches and branchlets, 

 especially towards the ends; stipules hyaline; flowers obviously 

 pediceled, 3 or 4 in the axils. 



Hilltops in western San Francisco; introduced from South America 

 where it is native. Apr.-June. 



25. AMARANTACE/E. Amaranth Family. 

 Annual or perennial herbs with simple entire leaves with stipules. 



