4. CALYPTRIDIUM. Nutt. mss.
“ Sepals 2, ovate, persistent. Petals united into a minute diaphanous conical
corolla, slightly 3-toothed at the apex, soon detached from the base and
carried up on the summit of the elongated capsule. Stamen 1. Styles 2,
minute. Capsule oblong-linear, many times longer than the calyx, 2-valved!,
6- 10-seeded. Seeds (circinate, compressed,) on filiform funiculi of unequal
length, rising from the base of the cell.—An annual succulent plant with the
habit of Calandrinia, much branched, depressed, with alternate spatulate
leaves. Spikes axillary, numerous, often several from the same point:
flowers small, somewhat secund.”
C. monandrum (Nutt.! mss.)—Talinum monandrum, R u iz Pav.
prodr. p. 65"? Calandrinia monandra, DC. prodr. 3. p. 359?
“ St. Diego, California.—Depressed, densely branched, glabrous. Radical
leaves lanceolate-spatulate, obtuse, thick and succulent, in a rosulate cluster.
Sepals slightly unequal, with scarious margins. 'Corolla minute, pale-
reddish. Capsule about 4 of an inch long, compressed, pod-shaped, somewhat
recurved; valves membranaceous. Seeds placed at different heights
in the capsule in consequence of the inequality of the funiculi, black and
shining.—Talinum monandrum, if not our plant, as is most probable, is doubtless
a congener. The calyptriform corolla and dicarpellary fruit, which characterize
this genus, are curious anomalies in the order Portulacace®.”—Nutt.
5. CLAYTONIA. Linn.; Gcertn. f r . t. 129.
Sepals 2, persistent, distinct or united at the base, ovate, mostly obtuse.
Petals 5, hypogynous, obcordate, obovate, or oblong, emarginate or bifid,
sometimes entire, equal, unguiculate ; the claws more or less connate at the
base. Stamens 5, inserted on the claws of the petals. Styles 3-cleft, the
divisions slender, stigmatose within. Capsule 3-valved, 2-5-seeded. Seeds
turgid, smooth or punctate, shining.—Glabrous rather succulent herbs. Stems
simple, with a pair of opposite often connate leaves (or with several alternate
on es); radical leaves long-petioled. ( Racemes often one-sided. Flowers
rose-color or white.
§ 1. Perennial: stems simple, arising from a subterranean cormus (or
rhizoma) : caulineleaves 2, opposite, distinct: raceme terminal, rarely
geminate.—Claytonia proper.
1. C. Virginica (Linn.) : leaves all linear or linear-lanceolate, elongated
and attenuated into petioles below; radical ones very few ; raceme at length
elongated ; pedicels slender, nodding; petals mostly emarginate.—Bot. mag.
t. 941; Michx.! fl. 1. p. 160; Ell. sk. 1. p. 306; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p.
224 (a .) ; DC. prodr. 3. p. 361 (“• & 0.) ; Sweet, Brit. fl. gard, (ser. 2.) t.
163. C. grandinora, Sweet, l. c. t. 216, fide Hook.
a. acutifiora: petals elliptical, acute [mostly with a slight emargination] ;
sepals rather acute; leaves elongated, narrowly linear. DC. I. c.
0. media: petals obovate, obtuse [emarginate]; sepals obtuse ; leaves oblong
linear or lanceolate. DC. 1. c.
In low moist grounds, Canada ! (rare) to Florida! Louisiana ! and Arkansas
! most abundant in the Middle and Southern Atlantic states. March-
May.—Cormus farinaceous, deep in the ground. Leaves acutish. Flowers
5-15 ; the lowest and often nearly all the pedicels minutely bracteate. Petals
pale rose-color or red, with deeper-colored veins.—Variable in many respects,
but apparently distinct from the succeeding species.
2. C. Caroliniana (Michx.): leaves ovate-lanceolate or oval, subspatu-
late at the base, or abruptly decurrent into a petiole; radical ones very few,
spatulate ; pedicels slender, nodding ; sepals and petals very obtuse.—Michx.
fl. 1. p. 160; Ell. sk. 1. c. C. spathulaefolia, Salisb. parad. Lond. t. 71;
Pursh, fl. 1 .p. 174; Nutt.! gen. l.p . 152. C. Virginica 0. latifolia, Torr.l
fl. 1. p. 259. C. Virginica y. spathulaefolia, DC. 1. c .; Hook. 1. c.
In woods from the mountainous parts of N. Carolina and the Western
States! to the northern parts of Canada! andNew-Brunswick; west to the
Rocky Mountains (Hooker): abundant in somewhat mountainous situations
throughout the Northern States. April.—A smaller plant than C. Virginica.
Leaves from 1 inch or less to 2 inches long, variable in shape ; particularly
the cauline leaves, which are sometimes exactly oval, with a distinct petiole
half an inch long, sometimes nearly spatulate.—The name given by Mich-
aux is inappropriate, as the plant has a more northerly range than C. Virginica,
and is rare in the Southern States.
3. C. lanceolata (Pursh): root tuberous; radical leaves (very few) oblong,
on long petioles; cauline ones elliptical, sessile, 3-nerved, with anastomosing
veins; raceme solitary, nodding; pedicels elongated, the lowest
bracteate ; petals deeply emarginate. Hook.—Pursh, fl. 1. p. 175. t. 3 ; Hook '
fl. Bor.-Am. 1. c.
In the Rocky Mountains, Lewis ex Pursh ; Drummond ex Hook.—We
quote the character of this species from Hooker; whose specimens, smaller
than the plant figured by Pursh and with broader slightly notched petals are
very similar, as Hooker himself remarks, to the preceding species, differing
indeed chiefly in the sessile cauline leaves. We have the same plant ora
form intermediate between it and C. Caroliniana, from Dr. Pitcher, collected
probably in Arkansas. The following is the character given by Pursh : “ C.
foliis lanceolatis: caulinis ovatis sessilibus, racemeo solitario elongato, calycis
foliolis brevibus obtusissimis, petalis cuneatis bifidis, radice tuberosa.—Flowers
white, nearly the size of C. Virginica, without veins.”—We cannot help
suspecting that Pursh’s figure is made up of two species, and that the flowers
at least belong to C. alsinoides.
§ 2: Annual: roots fibrous : stems simple, with a single p a ir o f opposite
often connate or perfoliate leaves: raceme terminal, often geminate or
compound.—L imnia.
4. C. alsinoides (Sims): stems numerous from a slender root; leaves
reticulately veined, rhombic-ovate ; radical ones numerous, on long petioles
abruptly acuminate; cauline sessile; racemes solitary or in pairs; pedicels
filiform, mostly solitary , bracteate ; petals cuneiform (white), acutely bifid at
the apex.—-Sims, bot. mag. t. 1309; Pursh, fl. 1. c.; D C. prodr. 3. p. 361;
Hook. 1. c. ; Bong.! veg. Sitcha, in mem. acad. St. Petersb. ( 6. ser.) 2. p.
136. C. Unalaschkensis, Fisch. in Ram. <$■ Schult. syst. 5. p. 434, DC.
1. Ci ? Limnia alsinoides, Haw. succ. syn. p. 12.
0. rosea: flowers rose-color; leaves almost veinless. DC. 1. c.—C. Sibirica
Bot. mag. t. 2243, ex Hook., not of Linn ?
y. heterophylla: radical leaves some of them ovate, others lanceolate-
cauline oblong-lanceolate, attenuate at the base; racemes 1- 3 ; flowers pale
rose-color.—C. Unalaschkensis 0. heterophylla, Nutt. ! mss.
Oregon, Menzies, Nuttall! to Sitcha, Bongard ! May-June.__Flowers
rather small (in all our indigenous specimens larger than in cultivated speci