many valves as stigmas : placenta in the axis. Seeds numerous or
few, eampulitropous. F mbryo curved around the outside of mealy
albumen.—Succulent insipid plants. Leaves alternate or opposite,
entire, exstipulate. Flowers axillary or terminal, mostly ephemeral.
Excluding from the orderTrianthema (which should certainly be placed with Sesu-
viuoi, as Arnott suggests), Cypselea (probably a co-ordinate with Sesuvium), and
Ginginsia (which is referred to Illecebracese by Battling, &c.), no exceptions remain
to the character of Portulacacese as given above! Hydropyxis, Raf, maybeleftout
of the question, as it was founded on a plant which the author never saw. Leptri-
na, of the same author, is a wholly doubtful plant; perhaps Montia.
1. PORTULACA. T ow n .; DC. prodr. 3. p. 353.
Sepals 2, united below, sometimes cohering with the base of the ovary;
the upper portion at length deciduous, separating from the lower near the
base by a transverse line. Petals 4-6, inserted on the calyx, equal. Stamens
8-20. Style 3-6-cleft at the apex or parted. Capsule subglobose, dehiscing
transversely near the middle. Seeds numerous, on filiform funiculi—
Humble fleshy herbs. Leaves scattered, often whorled near the
flowers, frequently with a tuft of hairs in their axils. Flowers expanding
only in sunshine,
1. P. oleracea (Linn.) : diffuse; leaves cuneiform, the axils and nodes
naked; flowers sessile; petals 5, coherent at the base; stamens 10-12;
styles distinct nearly to the base.—DC. pi. gras. t. 123, <&■ prodr. 1. c .; Ell.
sk. 1. p. 534.
Cultivated and waste places, nearly throughout N, America; introduced:
indigenous on the saline plains of thé Missouri, according to Nuttall <%■ Dr.
James !— Q) Flowers pale yellow.—Pwslane.
2. P. pilosa (Linn.): low, diffuse; leaves lanceolate or linear, obtuse,
with tufts of long hairs in their axils; flowers crowded and sessile at the
summit of the branches in a dense tuft of hairs ; petals 5 (purple), coherent
at the base; stamens about 20.— Gcertn. fr . t. 128; Bot. reg, t. 792; DC. 1.
c.; Torr.! in ann. lyc. New-York, 2. p. 202.
In barren places, N. Carolina'? (ex herb. Schweinitz!) On dry rocks,
Arkansas &c., Nu tta ll! Dr. James ! Dr. Leavenworth ! Texas, Drummond
!— (T) A native also of Mexico and South America.
2. TALINUM, Adans. (in part.) ; Sims, bot. mag. 1.1357.
Sepals 2, ovate, concave, deciduous. Petals 5, sessile, hypogynous. Stamens
10- 20, inserted with the petals, and often coherent with them at the
base. Style trifid. Capsule subglobose, 3-valved, many-seeded.
§ Stigmas or lobes o f the style short, connivent. Perennial herbs, with
a short thick and firm stem, and terete subulate fleshy leaves; flowers
in a terminal dichotomous cyme, expanding fo r a single day.—P hemeranthus,
Raf.
1. T. teretifolium (Pursh): stem simple or branched; leaves crowded at
the summit of the short branches; peduncle elongated; petals purple; stamens
about 20.—Pursh ! ft. 2. p. 365 ; Nutt. ! gen. 2. p. 6 ; Darlingt. ! fl.
Cest. ed. 1 .1. 3, ed. 2. p. 365. Phemeranthus teretifolius, R a f. speech. 1. p. 86.
On naked rocks, Westchester, Pennsylvania, Darlington! Virginia,
Pursh ! N. Carolina, Schweinitz ! West to the falls of the St. Croix, Dr.
Houghton! Arkansas, Dr. Pitcher! Nuttall! Dr. James! Texas,
Drummond ! June-Aug.—Perennial stems 1-3 inches long, throwing out
fibrous roots: annual stems about the same length. Peduncles 5-8 inches
high. Bracts ovate-lanceolate, very small, produced at the base. The
valves of the capsule on falling away leave a kind of replum in the form of
3 minute bristles. Placenta roundish, raised on a stipe.
2. T. parviflorum (Nutt. ! mss.) : “ small ; leaves slender ; stamens
5 ?-10.”
On rocks, Arkansas; with the preceding species, Nuttall!—A distinct
specie?, according to Nuttall, with much smaller flowers than T. teretifolium.
3. CALANDRINIA. H. B. f K. nov. gen. 6.p. 77, f syn. 3. p. 376.
Sepals 2, persistent, ovate, obtuse or acute, united at the base. Petals 3-5,
hypogynous, equal, rarely connate at the base, sessile. Stamens .4—15, hypogynous,
sometimes coherent with the base of the petals, with which, when
of the same number, they are often alternate. Style short: stigmas 3,
thickish, short. Capsule oblong or elliptical, 3-valved, many-seeded. Seeds
turgid, smooth and shining.—More or less succulent glabrous herbs. Leaves
alternate. Flowers axillary and solitary along the upper part of the stem, or
subracemose.
This genus is intermediate between Talinum and Claytonia..
1. C. Menziesii (Hook.) : caulescent ; leaves linear-spatulate ; the lower
ones on long peduncles, with the margins naked ; the upper ones glandulose-
ciliate ; sepals acutely carinate, glandulose-ciliate on the margins and keel ;
flowers peduncled, axillary. Hook.—Talinum? (Calandrinia?) Menziesii
Hook.fi.. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 223, t. 70.
On the coast, south of the mouth of the Oregon, Menzies ex Hook., whose
specimens were in fruit only : a small plant ; stems 2-4 inches high.—Mr.
Nuttall has brought specimens, also in fruit, from St. Barbara, California,
which agree perfectly with Hooker’s figure, except that the upper leaves and
sepals are very sparingly ciliate with minute processes of the cuticle rather
than hairs, which are moreover not glandular. We have the same plant from
Douglas’s Californian collection in flower, with the margins of the leaves
almost wholly naked. The petals are rose-color or purple, rather longer than
the sepals ; the stamens 6- 8, and the seeds numerous.
2. C. speciosa (Lindl.) : glabrous, diffuse ; leaves spatulate, acute, attenuate
into a petiole ; flowers racemed ; peduncles shorter than ' the bracts ;
petals longer than the calyx. Lindl. in bot. reg. t. 1598.
N. California, Douglas, (v. s. cult.)— (J) Stems 4-5 inches high, cæspi-
tose. Leaves fleshy. Raceme leafy : pedicels clavate. Sepals ovate, acute
carinate. Petals (large) deep purple. Stamens 9-10. Lindl.
3. C. maritima (Nutt. ! mss.) : “ glaucous ; leaves all in a radical cluster
obovate-spatulate, thick and fleshy, somewhat petioled ; obtuse ; stems scapi-
form, diffuse ; flowers in a subcorymbose raceme ; pedicels longer than the
bracts ; petals longer than the broadly ovate acute sepals.”
St. Diego, California, on the sea coast, Nuttall ! May.—Flowers rather
large and showy, red. Nutt.