Anagallis
arvensis.
Scapose
or caulescent annual to perennial herbs. Leaves
simple, exstipulate, opposite, whorled or alternate.
Flowers perfect, regular, mostly 5-merous.
Calyx deeply lobed, often persistent.
Corolla deeply parted to lobed, the lobes spreading or reflexed.
Stamens of same number as corolla-lobes and inserted opposite them on the
corolla-tube. Ovary 1-celled,
usually superior, sometimes half-inferior; ovules on a free cent. or basal
placenta. Style 1; stigma capitate.
Fruit a capsule, commonly 2-6 valved, sometimes circumscissile at apex.
Seeds few to many, with endosperm. (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 715).
Primroses,
Cyclamens and Cowslips are in this family. The weedy, little Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis
arvensis), which is often seen, is not a native.
It comes from Eurasia. (Dale
161).
About
25 genera and 600 species, widely distributed but most common in N. Hemisphere.
(Munz, Flora So. Calif. 715).
Upper Newport Bay species within the family:
Anagallis arvensis
var. coerulea