FLOW. PL. AFR.
Pl. 44.
J. Fleischmann del.
Talinum cuneifolium Willd.
A Flowering branch. B Flower cut lengthwise. C Fruit. D Seed.
3. Ovule 1. Stamens 4-7. Petals reddish. Fruit indehiscent. Shrubs.—Species
3. South Africa. Used as ornamental or fodder-plants. Portulacaria Jacq.
Ovules 3 or more. Stamens 3 or 8-30. Fruit 3-valved. Herbs or undershrubs. 4
4. Ovules 3. Stamens 3. Corolla 5-cleft, slightly irregular, white. Calyx persistent.—Species 1. North Africa and subantarctic islands. Used as a vegetable. Montia L.
Ovules numerous. Stamens 8-30. Corolla of 5 free or almost free petals, regular. Calyx deciduous. 5
5. Stipules present, but sometimes reduced to a tuft of hairs. Embryo slightly curved.—Species 15. South Africa. Some are used as ornamental plants. Anacampseros L.
Stipules absent. Embryo ring-shaped. Funicle of the seed with an appendage.—Species 4. Central and South Africa. Used as vegetables.
(Plate 44.) Talinum Adans.
[FAMILY 74.] BASELLACEAE
Glabrous, twining herbs. Leaves alternate, broad, entire. Flowers in spikes, racemes or panicles, regular, hermaphrodite. Sepals 2, adnate to the corolla at the base. Corolla 5-cleft or 5-parted, imbricate in the bud, persistent. Stamens 5, opposite the corolla-lobes and affixed to them at the base. Filaments straight or bent outwards in the bud. Anthers 2-celled, turned outwards. Ovary superior, 1-celled. Ovule 1, basal, curved; micropyle inferior. Style 3-partite. Fruit indehiscent. Seed albuminous; embryo curved or spirally twisted.—Genera 2, species 4, Tropics. (Under CHENOPODIACEAE or PORTULACACEAE.)
Flowers sessile, in spikes or panicles. Filaments broadened below. Stigmas entire. Pericarp membranous. Seed subglobose. Embryo spiral.—Species
3, two spontaneous in East Africa and Madagascar, the third cultivated in various tropical countries. They are used as vegetables, in medicine, and as dye-plants. Basella L.
Flowers short-stalked, in racemes. Filaments thread-shaped. Stigmas forked. Pericarp somewhat fleshy. Seed sublenticular. Embryo semicircular.—Species
1. Cultivated in various regions and naturalized in the Mascarene Islands. Used as a vegetable or an ornamental plant. Boussaingaultia H. B. & K.