708 
LTX. FIOOIDE/E. 
5. SESUVIUM, Linn. 
(Derivation obscure.) 
Calyx free, deeply 5-lobed. Petals none. Stamens 5, alternating with the 
calyx-lobes or indefinite, often very numerous, inserted at the top of the tube. 
Ovary free, enclosed in the calyx, 3 to 5-celled, with numerous ovules in each 
cell ; styles as many as cells, filiform, stigmatic along the inner side, at least 
towards the end. Capsule surrounded by the persistent calyx, membranous, 
more or less completely divided by very thin dissepiments, transversely circum- 
sciss about the middle. Heeds several ; testa coriaceous, smooth. — Herbs or 
undershrubs. Leaves opposite, fleshy, without stipules, but sometimes with 
scarious dilatations of the petiole. Flowers solitary or clustered in the axils or 
almost cymose, the calyx-lobes usually coloured inside, with more or less scarious 
margins. 
The genus contains about 4 species, spread over the seacoasts of the tropical and subtropical 
regions of the globe, the Australian species being the commonest and the most generally diffused 
both in the New and the Old World. — Bentli. 
1. S. portulacastrum (like a Portulaca), Linn.; DC. Prod. iii. 453 ; Bentli. 
FI. A list r. iii. 328. A succulent herb, procumbent or creeping and rooting at the 
joints. Leaves linear or linear-oblong, contracted below the middle, broader and 
stem-clasping at the base, mostly 1 to 2in. long, rather thick, fiat above, convex 
underneath. Pedicels from very short to rather longer than the calyx. Calyx 3 
to 4 lines long or sometimes more, the tube turbinate, 4 to 1 line long ; lobes 
ovate-lanceolate, green on the back, scarious on the margins and pink or purple 
inside, often shortly mucronate below the end. Stamens very numerous, inserted 
at the top of the calyx-tube and shorter than its lobes, the filaments sometimes 
shortly united at the base. Ovary 3 or rarely 4-celled. Capsule ovoid, not 
exceeding the calyx, circumsciss below the middle. — Bot. Mag. t. 1701. 
Hab.: E. coast, It. Brown; Port Curtis, M'Gillivray ; Howick’s Group and sandy shores of 
the islands of Moreton Bay, F. v. Mueller : Fitzroy River, Thozet. 
The styles are free to the base in all the flowers I have examined, but are occasionally 4 in 
number, as in Psammanthe marina, Hance in Walp. Ann. ii. (560, from the Chinese coasts, which 
appears to be a variety only of S. portulacastrum, notwithstanding that the styles are really, as 
described by Hance, shortly united at the base.— Bentli, 
S. repens, Roth, to which the Indian specimens are referred in Wight and Arn. Prod. 361, 
appears to be a variety or rather a state only of S. portulacoides, with smaller flowers and shorter 
and broader leaves, owing, as suggested by Arnott, to want of luxuriance. — Bentli. 
6. TRIANTHEMA, Linn. 
(From the flowers often being in threes.) 
(Anc-istrostigma, Fenzl. ) 
Calyx free, more or less deeply 5-lobed. Petals none. Stamens inserted at 
the top of the calyx-tube, either 5 alternating with its lobes or indefinite. Ovary 
free or nearly so, enclosed in the calyx, either 2-celled with 2 styles, or 1-celled 
(reduced to 1 carpel) with 1 excentrical or lateral style ; ovules 2 or more in each 
cell, attached to a basal placenta, free or shortly adnate to the partition. Capsule 
membranous or hard, transversely circumsciss, and when 2-celled the upper 
portion sometimes separating septicidally into 2 cocci, and in some species, not 
Australian, divided inside by a transverse partition under the uppermost seed. 
Seeds orbicular or reniform, the testa often granular. — Prostrate or diffuse herbs, 
rarely woody at the base. Leaves opposite, the tw T o of each pair unequal in size, 
the petioles often with a scarious dilatation at the base, but no real stipules. 
Flowers axillary, solitary or in cymes or clusters. Bracts and bracteoles often 
somewhat scarious. 
The genus is dispersed over the tropical and subtropical regions of the New as well as the Old 
World. 
