PORTULACEiE. 
125 
Order XLYIII. PORTULACEffi. 
Sepals always only two, in our plants adnate at the base to the ovary. 
Petals 4-5, entire. Stamens perigynous, definite or indefinite ; anthers 
bilocular, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary free or half-inferior, 1-celled; 
ovules many ; placentation free-central ; styles joined at the base, free 
above ; stigmas decurrent. Capsule membranous, splittiug round the 
middle or into valves at the top. Seeds like these of Caryophyllacece . — 
Herbs with fleshy entire alternate or opposite leaves, varied inflorescence 
and fugacious petals. Distrib. Species 125, mostly American. 
1. PORTULACA, Linn. 
Sepals 2, adnate to the ovary at the base. Petals 4-5, free, inserted 
where the calyx leaves the ovary. Stamens 8-20, inserted with the 
petals. Ovary adnate to the calyx at the base, 1-celled, many-ovuled ; 
* styles 3-8. Capsule membranous, dehiscing round by a horizontal line 
where it is free from the calyx. Seeds reniform ; embryo peripheric. 
— Annuals, with fleshy leaves and stems and small flowers in terminal 
clusters, surrounded by a whorl of ordinary leaves mixed with scariose 
bracts. Distrib. Cosmopolitan in the tropics; much cultivated. 
Species 16. 
Robust, with broad obtuse exstipulate leaves 1. P. oleracea. 
Small, with narrow acute leaves and stipules cut to the base 
into bristles. 
Flowers tetramerous, yellow 2. P. quadrifida. 
Flowers pentamerous, purple 3. P. pilosa. 
1. P. oleracea, Linn.; DC. Prod. iii. 353. A much-branched fleshy 
glabrous annual. Internodes long. Leaves exstipulate, alternate, or 
subopposite, sessile, obovate, obtuse, \-l in. long, cuneate at the base. 
Plower-clusters at the end, and sessile in the forks of the branches, 
surrounded by 2-5 ordinary leaves, and a few minute entire bracts. 
Petals 5, yellow, as long as the sepals. Stamens 8-12. 
Mauritius and Rodriguez, common in waste ground. Cosmopolitan in the 
tropics. The common cultivated Purslane. Pourpier. 
2. P. quadrifida, Linn. ; DC. Prod. iii. 354. Much less robust than 
P. oleracea , with trailing stems and shorter internodes. Leaves linear 
or lanceolate, acute, in. long ; persistent stipules cut down to the 
base into many slender bristly hairs. Heads of flowers involucred by 
several ordinary leaves, mixed with minute bracts just like the stipules. 
Petals 4, yellow. Stamens usually 8. P. meridiana, Linn. 
Mauritius, frequent in cultivated ground. Cosmopolitan in the tropics. Pour- 
pier marron. 
3. P. pilosa, Linn. DC. Prod. iii. 334. An annual, with many spread- 
ing fleshy branches with close nodes. Leaves minute, linear, acute ; 
persistent stipules cut down to the base into very slender hairs. Heads 
