Saffina.'] XVII. CARYOPHYLLACEiE (oliver). 143 



Upper Guinea. Fernando Po, 8500 ft., and Catnaroons mountain, 9000-11,000 ft 

 ann ! ■ ~ 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 

 Peculiar to tropical Africa. 



8. SPERGULARIA, Per*. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 152. 



Sepals 5, free. Petals 5, entire, rarely fewer or 0. Stamens 10 or fewer. 

 Ovary 1 -celled, multiovulate ; styles 3. Capsule dehiscing in 3 valves. 

 Seeds subglobose, compressed or winged. — Low, spreading or forking herbs, 

 with narrow, subulate or setaceous leaves and scarious stipules. Flowers 

 pedicellate, white or rose, in racemose cymes. 



A. small genus, affecting the shores and saline deserts of temperate regions. 



1. S. rubra, Pers. Syn. Pl.i. 504. var. A decumbent or ascending, 

 much-branched annual or biennial herb, attaining 3-6 in. in height, more or 

 less glandular-pubescent above, at least on the pedicels and calyx. Leaves 

 ver y narrow-linear, rather fleshy, often with tufted secondary leaves in their 

 ax ds ; stipules minute, scarious. Flowers white or pink, in forked or race- 

 mose cymes ; pedicels reflexed or spreading after flowering. Sepals oblong 

 w lanceolate, rather obtuse, exceeding the petals. Capsule slightly exceed- 

 ing' or equalling the calyx. Seeds compressed (not winged in the specimens 

 which I have seen, which agree, as noted by Planchon, with those of the 

 8. sakt/ffiaea, Bunge, figured in Ledebour's Atlas with yellowish flowers, by 

 mistake). 



Wile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 



Or. Ascherson distinguishes four species in Abyssinia, descriptions of which I have not seen. 



Spergularia rubra lias a wide distribution iu both hemispheres. 



[Spergula arvensis, Linn. A slender annual, i-2 ft. in height, with apparently verticil- 

 tote, tiarrow-linear or subulate leaves, 1-2 in. long*, and terminal di-trichotomous cymes of 

 ■jaB white flowers, with the pedicels usually deflexed in fruit, is widely spread as a weed of 

 <j«ltivation. Dr. Welwitsch collected it amongst Flax in Angola, and Dr. Schimper abun- 

 aautly amongst corn in Abyssinia.] 



9. DRYMARIA, Willd. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 152. 



Sepals 5, free. Petals 5, divided. Stamens 5 or fewer by abortion, 

 slightly perigvnous or inserted in a short annular disk. Ovary 1-celied, 

 2-oo-ovulate/ Styles 3, connate below. Capsule 3-valved.— Diffuse forking 

 » e »bs. Leaves plane, with minute stipules. Flowers small, cymose. 



Principally an American genus, of which the following species has the widest distribution. 



1. I>. cordata, mild. ; DC. Prod. i. 395. A weak spreading herb, 

 glabrous or nearly so, often extending 2 or 3 ft. Leaves broadly ovate, sub- 

 tle or nearly' orbicular, mucronulate, 3-nerved, shortly petiolate, i-1 in. 

 l0 "g- Flowers* small, in terminal or axillary, few-flowered, often loose, 

 cymose panicles on slender glabrous or minutely glandular peduncles. Petals 

 f*&, shorter than the sepals. 



J^Pper Guinea. Camaroons mountain, 7000 ft., and Fernando Po, 1000 ft., Mann ! 



*«ower Guinea. Golungo Alto, Angola, Dr. Welwitsch ! 



fhe ou l y Africau i oca i ities e kuovvn to me for this weed, widely dispersed through the 

 iro P'cs of both Asia and the New World. It is likely to occur iu Abyssinia. 



