C. vulgàtum, L. (Larger M.) Perennial; stems clammy-hairy, spreading (6–15´ long); leaves oblong; upper bracts scarious-margined; flowers larger (sepals 2–3´´ long), at first clustered, the fruiting pedicels longer, the earlier ones mostly much longer than the obtuse sepals; petals equalling the calyx. (C. viscosum, L. Herb., and Man. C. triviàle, Link.)—Fields and copses; common, perhaps indigenous. May–July. (Nat. from Eu.)
1. C. nùtans, Raf. Annual, very clammy-pubescent; stems erect, slender, grooved, diffusely branched (6–20´ high); cyme loose and open, many-flowered; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, the lowest spatulate; peduncles mostly elongated; petals longer than the calyx; pods nodding on the stalks, curved upward, thrice the length of the calyx.—Moist places, Vt. to Minn., and southward. May–July.
2. C. arvénse, L. (Field Chickweed.) Perennial; stems ascending or erect, tufted, downy or nearly smooth, slender (4–8´ high), naked and few–several-flowered at the summit; leaves linear or narrowly lanceolate; petals obcordate, more than twice the length of the calyx; pods scarcely longer than the calyx.—Dry or rocky places. May–July. (Eu.)
Var. oblongifòlium, Holl. & Britt. Usually taller, pubescent; leaves narrowly or broadly oblong or oblong-lanceolate; pod about twice longer than the calyx. (C. oblongifolium, Torr.)—Rocky places, N. Y. to Minn., and southward.—Var. villòsum, Holl. & Britt. Similar but densely villous-pubescent, and the leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate.—E. Penn.
10. SAGÌNA, L. Pearlwort.
Sepals 4 or 5. Petals 4 or 5, undivided, or often none. Stamens as many as the sepals, rarely twice as many. Styles as many as the sepals and alternate with them. Pod many-seeded, 4–5-valved to the base; valves opposite the sepals.—Little, matted herbs, with thread-like or awl-shaped leaves, no stipules, and small flowers terminating the stems or branches; in summer. (Name from sagina, fattening; previously applied to the spurry.)
[*] Parts of the flower in fours, rarely with some few in fives.
1. S. procúmbens, L. Annual or perennial, depressed or spreading on the ground, glabrous; leaves linear-thread-shaped; apex of the peduncle often hooked soon after flowering; petals shorter than the broadly ovate obtuse sepals, sometimes none.—Springy places and damp rocks, coast of Maine to Penn. (Eu.)
2. S. apétala, L. Annual, erect or ascending; leaves ciliate at base or glabrous; petals none or very small; peduncles always erect.—Dry soil, Mass. to Penn.; scarce, seemingly native? (Eu.)
[*][*] Parts of the flower in fives, the stamens not rarely 10.
3. S. decúmbens, Torr. & Gray. Annual, ascending; the peduncles and calyx with the margins of the upper leaves at first glandular-pubescent; leaves short, often bristly-tipped, not fascicled in the axils; peduncles slender; petals equalling or shorter than the calyx; pod oblong-ovate, nearly twice longer than the acutish sepals. (S. subulata, Man., not Wimm.)—E. Mass., to Ill., Mo., and southward.—Var. Smíthii, a slender form, apetalous, at least in the later flowers.—Near Philadelphia, in waste ground, and in sandy fields at Somers' Point, N. J., C. E. Smith. Seeds minutely roughened.
4. S. nodòsa, Fenzl. Perennial, tufted, glabrous, or glandular above; stems ascending (3–5´ high); lower leaves thread-form, the upper short and awl-shaped, with minute ones fascicled in their axils so that the branchlets appear knotty, petals much longer than the calyx.—Wet sandy soil, along the coast of Maine and N. H., also Lake Superior, and northward. (Eu.)
11. BÙDA, Adans. Sand-Spurrey.
Sepals 5. Petals 5, entire. Stamens 2–10. Styles and valves of the many-seeded pod 3, very rarely 5, when the valves alternate with the sepals! Embryo not coiled into a complete ring.—Low herbs, mostly on or near the seacoast, with filiform or linear somewhat fleshy opposite leaves, and smaller ones often clustered in the axils; stipules scaly-membranaceous; flowering all summer. (Named probably for the city so called.)—Genus also known as Tissa, Adans., Spergularia, Presl., and Lepigonum, Wahlb. The species are very variously understood by European botanists, and are much confused, as well as the synonymy. Our forms are annual, or at the most biennial.
1. B. rùbra, Dumort. Nearly glabrous, the summit of the prostrate or ascending slender stems, peduncles, and sepals usually glandular-pubescent; leaves linear, flat, scarcely fleshy; stipules lanceolate, entire or cleft; pedicels longer than the bracts; pods and pink-red corolla small (1½´´), hardly equalling or exceeding the calyx; seeds rough with projecting points, semi-obovate or gibbous-wedge-shaped, wingless. (Spergularia rubra, Presl.)—Dry sandy soil, New Eng. to Va., along and near the coast, but rarely maritime. (Eu.)
2. B. marìna, Dumort. More decidedly fleshy than the preceding, erect or ascending, usually pubescent, with ovate stipules, terete leaves, and pedicels 2–4´´ long; sepals usually becoming 2–2½´´ long, little shorter than the pod; petals pale; seeds obovate-rounded and roughened with points, wingless or narrow-winged. (Spergularia salina, Presl. Tissa marina, Britt.)—Brackish sands, etc., coast of N. Eng. to Va., and southward. A form with smooth seeds is var. leiospérma, N. E. Brown. (S. media, Presl.) (Eu.)
Var.(?) mìnor, Watson. Small, ascending or decumbent; flowers smaller, on shorter pedicels (rarely 2´´ long), the sepals and pod 1–1½´´ long; seeds wingless, usually papillose.—Coast of N. H. and Mass.
3. B. boreàlis, Watson. Diffusely branched, glabrous; pedicels usually 2–4´´ long; petals white; pod ovate, 2´´ long, about twice longer than the sepals; seeds usually wingless, smooth or nearly so. (Tissa salina, Britt.)—On the coast, E. Maine to Labrador.
12. SPÉRGULA, L. Spurrey.
Stamens 5 or 10. Styles 5. The 5 valves of the pod opposite the sepals. Embryo spirally annular. Leaves in whorls. Otherwise as in Buda. (Name from spargo, to scatter, from the seeds.)
S. arvénsis, L. (Corn Spurrey.) Annual; leaves numerous in the whorls, thread-shaped (1–2´ long); stipules minute; flowers white, in a stalked panicled cyme; seeds rough.—Grain-fields. (Adv. from Eu.)
Order 16. PORTULACÀCEÆ. (Purslane Family.)
Herbs, with succulent leaves, and regular but unsymmetrical flowers; viz., sepals fewer than the petals; the stamens opposite the petals when of the same number, but often indefinite, otherwise nearly as Chickweeds.—Sepals 2. Petals 5, or sometimes none. Stamens mostly 5–20. Styles 2–8, united below, or distinct, stigmatic along the inside. Pod 1-celled, with few or many campylotropous seeds rising on stalks from the base. Embryo curved around mealy albumen.—Insipid and innocent herbs, with entire leaves. Corolla opening only in sunshine, mostly ephemeral, then shrivelling.
1. Portulaca. Stamens 7–20, on the partly adherent calyx. Pod opening by a lid.
2. Talinum. Stamens more numerous than the petals, hypogynous. Calyx deciduous. Pod many-seeded.
3. Claytonia. Stamens as many as the hypogynous petals, and attached to their base. Calyx persistent. Pod 3–6-seeded.
1. PORTULÀCA, Tourn. Purslane.
Calyx 2-cleft; the tube cohering with the ovary below. Petals 5, rarely 6, inserted on the calyx with the 7–20 stamens, fugacious. Style mostly 3–8-parted. Pod 1-celled, globular, many-seeded, opening transversely, the upper part (with the upper part of the calyx) separating as a lid.—Fleshy annuals, with mostly scattered leaves. (An old Latin name, of unknown meaning.)
P. oleràcea,