Descriptive Flora 



89 



and narrowed at the base. Stamens eight to thirty-two, brownish- 

 red or purple, longer than the petals and spreading out of the 

 flower, giving rise to one of its popular names. Fruit an erect, 

 many-seeded, clammy-hairy pod, 1 — 21/2" long. March to fall. 

 The flower has an unusual appendage in the form of a red gland 

 at the base of the petals. Genus taken from two Gr. words 

 polys, many, anisos, unequal, from the stamens. 



Pedicellaria pentaphylla (L) Schrank. 

 (Gynmdlropsis pentaphylla [L.] DC.) 



Branched plants 6—19" high, with 5-foliolate leaves and 

 leafy-bracted racemes of 4-petalled white flowers. Leaves pal- 

 mately-compound. Leaflets 5, rarely 3, oval to obovate, slightly 

 and finely toothed or entire, % to 2" long, and giving off a dis- 

 agreeable odor when crushed. Petals 4, threadlike at the base, 

 expanded above. Stamens 6, the filaments short at first but 

 developing in threads about an inch long, and united below half 

 their length. Pod erect, 1 to 2y 2 " long, glandular, long-stalked 

 and containing several seeds. Not common. May and June. 

 In gardens and waste places. 



CRASSULACEAE. Orpine Family. 

 SEBACEAE. Orpine Family. In Small's Flora. 

 S echini nnttallianum Raf. Stonecrop. Flowering Moss. 



These tiny, fleshy plants make beautiful golden patches 

 covering almost bare, flat limestone rocks and hilltops. Stems 

 two to four inches high, intricately branched. Leaves alternate 

 or opposite, fleshy, almost cylindrical, about one-fourth inch 

 long, resembling tiny pods. Flowers small, across, yellow, 

 sessile, near the foot of the branches or in the axils of the upper 

 most fleshy leaves. Petals usually five, sometimes four, yellow. 

 Stamens 10. March to July. Plants are often a source of in- 

 terest as they will continue to grow and blossom even though 

 pulled and kept out of water for fully two weeks. Genus name 

 originated from the Lat. sedeo, to sit, from its habit of growing 

 on walls and rocks. 



