1. P. retùsa, Engelm. Leaves often retuse; calyx-lobes obtuse in the bud; petals small or minute; style shorter, 3–4-cleft; seeds larger, sharply tuberculate; otherwise like the last.—Ark. to Tex. and westward; reported from Kan., Iowa, and Minn.
2. P. pilòsa, L. Ascending or spreading, copiously hairy in the axils; leaves linear-subulate, nearly terete, 3–6´´ long; petals red or purple.—Kan. to Tex., etc.
2. TALÌNUM, Adans.
Sepals 2, distinct and free, deciduous. Petals 5, ephemeral. Stamens 10–30. Style 3-lobed at the apex. Pod 3-celled at the base when young, 3-valved, with many seeds on a globular stalked placenta. (Derivation obscure.)
1. T. teretifòlium, Pursh. Perennial; leafy stems low, tuberous at base; leaves linear, cylindrical; peduncle long (3–6´) and naked, bearing an open cyme of pink flowers ({2/3}´ broad); stamens 15–20.—Serpentine rocks, Penn., to Ind., Minn., and southward. June–Aug. (Addendum) Style equalling the stamens.
(Addendum) 2. T. calycìnum, Engelm. Leaves somewhat broader; flowers and capsules larger; stamens 30 or more; style twice longer than the stamens, declined.—Central Kan. to W. Tex.
3. CLAYTÒNIA, Gronov. Spring-Beauty.
Sepals 2, ovate, free, persistent. Stamens 5, adhering to the short claws of the petals. Style 3-cleft at the apex. Pod 1-celled, 3-valved, 3–6-seeded.—Our two species are perennials, sending up simple stems in early spring from a small deep tuber, bearing a pair of opposite leaves, and a loose raceme of pretty flowers. Corolla rose-color with deeper veins, opening for more than one day! (Named in honor of Dr. John Clayton, one of our earliest botanists, who contributed to Gronovius the materials for the Flora Virginica.)
1. C. Virgínica, L. Leaves linear-lanceolate, elongated (3–6´ long).—Moist open woods; common, especially westward and southward.
2. C. Caroliniàna, Michx. Flowers rather smaller and fewer; leaves spatulate-oblong or oval-lanceolate (1–2´ long).—Maine to Minn., and southward along the Alleghanies.
(Addendum) 3. C. Chamissònis, Esch. Weak, procumbent or ascending, rooting below and perennial by lateral and terminal filiform runners; leaves several pairs, oblong-spatulate, 1–2´ long; inflorescence racemosely 1–9-flowered; petals pale rose-color; capsule small, 1–3-seeded.—In a cold ravine, Winona Co., Minn.; in the mountains from Colorado north and westward.
Order 17. ELATINÀCEÆ. (Water-wort Family.)
Little marsh annuals, with membranaceous stipules between the opposite dotless leaves, minute axillary flowers like those of the Chickweeds, but the pod 2–5-celled, and the seeds as in St. John's-wort. The principal genus is
1. ELATÌNE, L. Water-wort.
Sepals 2–4, persistent. Petals 2–4, hypogynous. Stamens as many, rarely twice as many, as the petals. Styles, or sessile capitate stigmas, 2–4. Pod membranaceous, globose, 2–4-celled, several–many-seeded, 2–4-valved; the partitions left attached to the axis, or evanescent. Seeds cylindrical, straightish or curved, marked by both longitudinal and transverse lines.—Dwarf glabrous plants, usually rooting at the nodes, aquatic or terrestrial. (A Greek name for some obscure herb.)
1. E. Americàna, Arn. Tufted, 1´ high; leaves obovate, obtuse, 1–3´´ long; flowers sessile, rarely opening in the aquatic form; sepals, petals, stamens, and stigmas 2, rarely 3; seeds 5 or 6 in each cell, rising from the base, marked by 9 or 10 longitudinal lines and 20–30 crossbars.—Margin of ponds, etc., N. H. to Ill., Va., and southwestward. Pod very thin and delicate; the seeds large in proportion, straightish.
2. E. triándra, Schkuhr. Leaves oblanceolate or nearly lanceolate; petals and stamens commonly 3; seeds more slender, covering the axis.—Ponds, Ill., Neb., and westward. (Eu.)
3. E. brachyspérma, Gray. Leaves oblong or oval with narrowed base; flowers mostly dimerous; seeds short-oblong, with 6 or 7 longitudinal lines and 10–12 crossbars.—Ill. and southwestward.
Order 18. HYPERICÀCEÆ. (St. John's-wort Family.)
Herbs or shrubs, with opposite entire dotted leaves and no stipules, regular hypogynous flowers, the petals mostly oblique and convolute in the bud, and many or few stamens commonly collected in 3 or more clusters or bundles. Pod 1-celled with 2–5 parietal placentæ, and as many styles, or 3–7-celled by the union of the placentæ in the centre; dehiscence mostly septicidal.—Sepals 4 or 5, imbricated in the bud, herbaceous, persistent. Petals 4 or 5, mostly deciduous. Styles persistent, at first sometimes united. Seeds numerous, small, anatropous, with no albumen. Embryo cylindrical.—Plants with a resinous juice, dotted with pellucid or dark glands, usually smooth. Leaves mostly sessile. Flowers solitary or cymose.
[*] Petals oblique, convolute, yellow; hypogynous glands none.
1. Ascyrum. Sepals 4, in 2 very unequal pairs. Petals 4. Stamens many, distinct.
2. Hypericum. Sepals 5, alike. Petals 5. Stamens usually many and in 3 or 5 clusters.
[*][*] Petals equal, imbricate, purplish; glands alternating with the 3 stamen-clusters.
3. Elodes. Sepals and petals 5. Stamens usually 9. Ovary 3-celled.
1. ÁSCYRUM, L. St. Peter's-wort.
Sepals 4; the two outer very broad and leaf-like; the inner much smaller. Petals 4, oblique, very deciduous, convolute in the bud. Stamens numerous; the filaments distinct and scarcely in clusters. Pod strictly 1-celled, 2–4-valved.—Low, rather shrubby, smooth plants, with pale black-dotted leaves, and nearly solitary light yellow flowers. (An ancient Greek name of some plant, from α-, without, and σκύρος, roughness.)
1. A. stáns, Michx. (St. Peter's-wort.) Stem rather simple, 2-edged, 1–2° high, stout; leaves oval or oblong, somewhat clasping, thickish; flowers showy; outer sepals round-cordate, inner lanceolate; petals obovate; styles 3 or 4.—Pine barrens, Long Island to Penn., and southward. July, Aug.
2. A. Crux-Ándreæ, L. (St. Andrew's Cross.) Low, much branched and decumbent; leaves narrowly obovate-oblong, contracted at the base, thin; petals linear-oblong; styles 2, very short; pod flat.—Nantucket; pine barrens of N. J. to S. Ill., Neb., and southward. July–Sept.—Petals scarcely exceeding the outer sepals, approaching each other in pairs over them, in the form of a St. Andrew's cross.
2. HYPÉRICUM, Tourn. St. John's-wort.
Sepals 5, somewhat equal. Petals 5, oblique, convolute in the bud. Stamens commonly united or clustered in 3–5 parcels; no interposed glands. Pod 1-celled or 3–5-celled. Seeds usually cylindrical.—Herbs or shrubs, with cymose yellow flowers. (An ancient Greek name, of obscure meaning.)
§ 1. Stamens very numerous, 5-adelphous; styles 5, united below, the stigmas capitate; pod 5-celled, the placentæ turned far back into the cells; perennial herb; flowers very large.
1. H. Áscyron, L. (Great St. John's-wort.) Stems 2–5° high; branches 2–4-angled; leaves (2–5´ long) ovate-oblong, partly clasping; petals narrowly obovate (1´ long), not deciduous until after they wither; pod ¾´ long, conical. (H. pyramidatum, Ait.)—Banks of rivers, New Eng. and Penn. to Iowa and Minn. July.
§ 2. Stamens very numerous, obscurely if at all clustered; styles 3 (n. 2 excepted), more or less united into one, the stigmas not capitate except in n. 10; sepals mostly foliaceous.
[*] Bushy shrubs, 1–6° high, leafy to the top.
[+]