Calyx 5-parted, imbricate, persistent. Petals 5, hypogynous, obovate-spatulate, rather erect, deciduous. Filaments united in a 10-toothed tube, slightly cohering with the base of the petals, the 5 teeth opposite the petals naked, the alternate ones shorter and bearing roundish 1-celled anthers, which open across the top. Style short, stigma 3-lobed. Capsule ovoid, 3-celled; columella none. Seeds numerous, the cellular loose coat tapering to each end.—Evergreen herb, with a thick matted tuft of scaly creeping rootstocks, beset with fibrous red roots, sending up round heart-shaped crenate-toothed and veiny shining leaves (about 2´ wide) on slender petioles, and a slender naked scape, 1–2° high, bearing a wand-like spike or raceme of small and minutely-bracted white flowers. (Name from γάλα, milk,—of no conceivable application to this plant.)
1. G. aphýlla, L.—Open woods, Va. to Ga. June.
Order 60. PLUMBAGINÀCEÆ. (Leadwort Family.)
Maritime herbs, with regular 5-merous flowers, a plaited calyx, the 5 stamens opposite the separate petals or the lobes of the corolla, and the free ovary one-celled, with a solitary ovule hanging from a long cord which rises from the base of the cell.—Only the Statíceæ or Marsh-Rosemary Tribe is represented in our region, in gardens by the Thrift (Armèria vulgàris), on the coast by a single species of
1. STÁTICE, Tourn. Sea-Lavender. Marsh-Rosemary.
Flowers scattered or loosely spiked and 1-sided on the branches, 2–3-bracted. Calyx funnel-form, dry and membranaceous, persistent. Corolla of 5 nearly or quite distinct petals, with long claws, the 5 stamens severally attached to their bases. Styles 5, rarely 3, separate. Fruit membranous and indehiscent, in the bottom of the calyx. Embryo straight, in mealy albumen.—Sea-side perennials, with thick and stalked radical leaves; the naked flowering stems or scapes branched into panicles. (Στατική, an ancient name given to this or some other herb, on account of its astringency.)
1. S. Limònium, L. Root thick and woody, very astringent; leaves oblong, spatulate or obovate-lanceolate, 1-ribbed, tipped with a deciduous bristly point, petioled; scape much-branched, corymbose-panicled (1–2° high); spikelets 1–3-flowered; flowers lavender-color; calyx-tube hairy on the angles, the lobes ovate-triangular, with as many teeth in the sinuses. (Eu.)
Var. Caroliniàna, Gray, the plant of the Northern States, has more erect branches, rather panicled inflorescence with at length scattered flowers, and very acute or acuminate calyx-lobes.—Salt marshes along the coast, from Lab. to Tex. Aug., Sept.
Order 61. PRIMULÀCEÆ. (Primrose Family.)
Herbs, with simple leaves, and regular perfect flowers, the stamens as many as the lobes of the monopetalous (rarely polypetalous) corolla and inserted opposite them (on the tube or base), and a 1-celled ovary with a central free placenta rising from the base, bearing several or many seeds.—Calyx free from the ovary, or in Samolus partly coherent. (Corolla none in Glaux.) Stamens 4 or 5, rarely 6 or 8. Style and stigma one. Seeds with a small embryo in fleshy albumen. Ovules amphitropous, except in Tribe I.