Rhodora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 12. B E /— August, 1910. No. 140. 
NOTES ON SOME NORTHEASTERN SPECIES OF SPER- 
GULARIA. 
M. L. FERNALD and K. M. WIEGAND. 
DvrinG the past summer observations upon Spergularia at various 
stations on the New England coast made it clear, that our ordinary 
interpretation of specific limits in the maritime species is not entirely 
satisfactory; and subsequent study of much herbarium material shows 
that certain of the conclusions of Kindberg based upon the seed-char- 
acters of these plants should be sustained. Upon the Atlantic coast 
of North America there are three very clearly distinguished plants 
(besides the common S. rubra, which is rarely found in saline habitats). 
One of these plants, with the capsule much longer than the compara- 
tively short round-tipped sepals, and with large seeds, is without doubt 
S. canadensis (Pers.) G. Don, which was based by Persoon upon 
Michaux's Arenaria rubra f from the mouth of the River St. Lawrence. 
The Michaux material is preserved at the Muséum d'Histoire Natur- 
elle in Paris, and examination of his specimens has confirmed our 
present interpretation of the species. 
The other two maritime plants are passing, in our current manuals, 
under the name Spergularia marina (L.) Griesb., or Tissa marina (L.) 
Britton. Both of them, like S. canadensis, may have all the seeds in 
a capsule wingless or some of them with a thin friable wing; but one 
of the two plants has the seeds quite smooth (except for the occasional 
wing), while the other has them glandular-papillose. Although these 
characters of the seeds have recently been treated as of no diagnostic 
value, still the plant with papillose seeds has most of the flowers (at 
least the uppermost) subtended by very short bracts or none at all, 
157 
