1919] Fernald,— Arenaria verna 21 
erect or strongly ascending, simple to freely forking, 0.7-2.7 dm. high, 
1-50-flowered; the uppermost cauline leaves (below the first forking) 
0.8-3 cm. long: pedicels becoming 1.2-4.5 cm. long: calyx 3-5 mm. 
long: petals 4-8 mm. long.— Mountains of Georgia, Tennessee and 
North Carolina, locally north on exposed siliceous rocks to the Catskill 
Mts., New York, central Connecticut, southwestern Rhode Island, 
central New Hampshire, and central Maine. 
VI. THE AMERICAN VARIATIONS OF ARENARIA VERNA. 
In 1906! it was felt by the present writer that the variations of 
Arenaria verna with petals shorter than or barely equaling the calyx 
could be separated as three varieties: var. propinqua (Richardson) 
Fernald, a glandular-pubescent plant with the rather tall flowering 
branches (up to 1.5 dm.) 2-5-flowered, and with the fruiting calyx 
2.5-3.5 mm. long; var. hirta (Wormskj.) Watson, similar but with 
fruiting calyx 4-5 mm. long; and var. rubella (Wahlenb.) Watson, 
glabrous or nearly so, with branches 1 (rarely 2)-flowered and with 
calyx 3-4 mm. long. Since that time the writer has collected the 
plants extensively in Labrador, Newfoundland and Quebec and 
material from other regions has been sent him for study. As a 
result of reconsidering his former attitude it may now be stated that 
these variations are so freely confluent as to be practically unrecog- 
nizable? They should be merged as one North American variety 
which is also in boreal Eurasia, and the earliest varietal designation 
seems to have been that of Chamisso & Schlechtendal, in 1826, when 
they distinguished Arenaria hirta a. glabra (the same as A. verna, var. 
propinqua, forma epilis Fernald) and 8. pubescens (which covers 
vars. hirta and propinqua of later authors). This variety should, 
then, be known as 
ARENARIA VERNA L., var. pubescens (Cham. & Schl.), n. comb. 
Ar. Gieseckii Hornem. Fl. Dan. ix. t. 1518 (1816). Ar. hirta Wormskj. 
Fl. Dan. x. t. 1646 (1819) excl. syn. Ar. propinqua Richardson in 
Frankl. Journ. 738 — reprint 10 (1823). Ar. hirta Q8. pubescens 
Cham. & Schlecht. Linnaea i. 56 (1826).  Alsine hirta (Wormskj.) 
Hartm. Handb. Skand. Fl. ed. 3, 104 (1838). Als. verna, m. hirta 
1 Raopona, viii. 32 (1906). 
2 Fenzl well understood the situation when he spoke of A. verna with ‘‘ varietatum limitibus 
difficillime coércenda, synonymia taediosa ac inextricabili fere modo confusa, botanicorum 
omnis aevi cruciamentum.’’ — Fenzl in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 348 (1842). 
