Poppy family
Papaveraceae
Are-jem’o-nee. The prickly poppies are tropical American herbs of perhaps 30 species, one very widely grown.
Description
Stout with yellow juice, the cut leaves more or less toothed and spiny-margined. Flowers large, with 2 or 3 sepals and 4-6 rather showy petals.
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Potato family
Solanaceae
Near-em-berg’i-a or near-em-ber’ji-a. Cupflower . Tropical American herbs or subshrubs comprising about 30 species, 4 grown for their attractive tubular flowers.
Description
Leaves alternate, somewhat scattered, without marginal teeth. Flowers white or pale blue, mostly near the ends of twigs. Calyx more or less bell-shaped, 5-parted. Corolla long-tubed, the 5-lobed limb abruptly expanded, throat yellow. Stamens 5, protruding, one shorter than the others.
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Daisy family
Compositae
Ma-kee-ran’the-ra. A small genus of herbs found in w. North America and closely related to Aster .
Description
Leaves alternate, bristly. In the only cultivated species (below), flowerheads rather showy.
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Daisy family
Compositae
Fe-liss’i-a. A large genus of chiefly South African subshrubs (rarely annuals).
Description
Leaves alternate or opposite, or sometimes in rosettes. Flowerheads showy, usually blue, and radiating.
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Spurge family
Euphorbiaceae
You-for’bi-a. Probably over 1600 species of great variety, ranging from weeds and tropical, cactuslike succulents to popular garden annuals. The species below are grown for their foliage.
Description
Leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled, sometimes toothed. Flowers have no petals or sepals but often have showy, highly colored bracts.
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Evening primrose family
Onagraceae
Gau’ra. About 20 species of rather coarse, chiefly perennial North and South American herbs, the one below grown for ornament.
Description
Stout herbs with alternate leaves. Flowers white or pink, in terminal spikes or racemes. Calyx tubular, its 4 lobes separate and bent backward. Petals slightly unequal, separate, the base narrowed into a claw.
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Pink family
Caryophyllaceae
Dy-an’thus. About 300 species of mostly Eurasian herbs, some important as garden plants.
Description
Leaves opposite and usually narrow. Joints swollen. Flowers terminal, usually grouped in small, often dense, cymes or panicles, but sometimes solitary. Calyx veiny, with 5 teeth, and often with 2 or more bracts beneath it. Petals 5 (much doubled in some horticultural forms), fringed or toothed in some species, always with a longish basal shank. Stamens 10.
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Daisy family
Compositae
Ur-sin’i-a. Annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs comprising about 40 species, natives of South Africa. Showy garden plants, but only the tender annuals are cultivated.
Description
Leaves alternate, usually deeply cut into narrow lobes, the margins toothed. Flowers in solitary heads, daisylike. Ray flowers orange or yellow, sometimes purplish brown at base, the disk flowers dark bluish purple or brown. Sometimes spelled Ursinea .
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Potato family
Solanaceae
Pe-too’ni-a. An important group of garden flowers, comprising about 30 species of herbs, nearly all from Argentina.
Description
Leaves soft, without marginal teeth, alternate below but the upper ones opposite. Flowers variously colored, the corolla funnel-shaped. Stamens 5, 4 in pairs, the odd one smaller, rudimentary, and sterile.
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Goosefoot family
Chenopodiaceae
Ko’ki-a. Eighty species, chiefly Eurasian, one widely cultivated and valued for its bushy, brilliantly colored foliage.
Description
Leaves alternate and narrow. Flowers small, solitary or clustered, growing in leaf axils.
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Portulaca family
Portulacaceae
Kal-an-drin’i-a. A large genus of fleshy herbs, found in w. North America and w. South America. Commonly called rock purslane in Calif.
Description
Leaves alternate or basal. Flowers short-lived, in bracted racemes. Petals 3-7, rose-pink or red. Sepals 2, and persistent.
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Snapdragon family
Scrophulariaceae
An-tir-ry’num. About 40 species of hardy, herbaceous perennials or annuals, natives of the northern hemisphere.
Description
Erect or spreading, sometimes covered with short, sticky hairs. Leaves alternate, lance-shaped or ovalish, with heart-shaped base, sometimes bluntly lobed. Flowers solitary or in long terminal racemes, the individual flower growing from the axil of a small, leafy bract, white, yellow, pink, red, or purple. Calyx of 5 sepals. Corolla tubular, pouched, forming a mouth, the upper lip 2-lobed, the lower lip 3-lobed, the lips turning outward. 5 stamens: 4 fertile, 1 sterile, growing inside the corolla tube.
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