FICOIDEiE. 
108 
[Sesuvium. 
fleshy leaves, the flowers in our species solitary in their axils. Distrib. 
Cosmopolitan. Species 6-7. 
1. S. Portulacastrum, Linn.; DC. Prod. iii. 453. A glabrous 
wide-trailing littoral herb, the whole plant often red. Leaves oblanceo- 
late, obtuse, entire, very fleshy, 1-2 in. long, with a membranous deltoid 
clasping stipule adnate to the narrowed base. Flowers solitary, peduncled 
or nearly sessile in the axils of many of the leaves. Calyx i in. long, 
green outside, red within. Stamens about 12, included. 
Mauritius, on sand round salt-water pools, near Fort William, Ayres ! Coin de 
Mire and Amber island, Rome / Rodriguez, Balfour / Cosmopolitan on tropical 
shores. 
Order XLII. HALORAGACE.E. 
Flowers in our plant monoicous or polygamous, tetramerous. Calyx 
adnate to the ovary in the female flowers, 4-toothed. Petals 4, free or 
absent. Anthers 4, subsessile, basifixed, strap-shaped, two-celled, dehi- 
scing longitudinally. Ovary ovoid, inferior, 1-celled ; stigmas 4, sessile. 
Fruit a minute 1-seeded nut. Seeds albuminous. — Herbs, usually 
aquatic ; leaves alternate or opposite ; flowers minute, in axillary clusters. 
Distrib. Cosmopolitan. Species 80. 
1. SERPICULA, Linn. 
Flowers monoicous or polygamous. Sepals 4, lanceolate, free to the 
base in the male, deltoid with a tube adnate to the ovary in the female 
flowers. Petals 4 or absent. Stamens 4, large, linear, subsessile. 
Ovary inferior, 1-celled, with 4 pendulous ovules ; stigmas 4, sessile, 
spreading. Fruit a dry one-seeded nut. Many species described, but 
they seem all varieties of one. 
1. S. repens, Linn. ; LG. Prod. iii. 65. Rootstock wiry, perennial, 
wide-creeping ; stems simple, ascending, nearly glabrous. Leaves 
sessile, oblanceolate, alternate or opposite, entire, glabrous, 1-nerved 
in the common Mauritian form (S. repens , Bojer ; S. brasiliensis, Camb.) 
under \ inch long. Flowers in dense clusters in the axils of the upper 
leaves ; males pedicellate, with 4 strap-shaped anthers in. long ; 
females sessile, the ovoid nut with 8 tnbercled grooves and crowned 
with the erect persistent deltoid calyx-teeth. 
Mauritius, in swamps at Pamplemousses, Mare aux Vacouas, etc. Cosmopolitan 
in the tropics ; also Cape. S. veroniccefolia. Bory. ; DC. Prod. loc. cit., is a variety 
with opposite obovate toothed glabrous leaves. 
Order XLIII. RHIZOPHORACE^l. 
Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Calyx-tube more or less adnate to 
the ovary ; teeth few or many, coriaceous, persistent. Petals as many 
as the calyx-teeth, inserted at their base, entire or bifid. Stamens 
