290 PLANTS OF MADETKA. 



ticularibus seriatim punctatis nitidis atris ala membranacea dilatata 



radiato-plicata alba cinctis. 

 IIab. In maritimis Maderse, Portus Sancti, Insulseque Desertse Sep- 



tentrionalis et Australis. 

 Facies Spergulee arvensis^ L. ; sed prseter stylos semper tres, capsulam 



constantissime trivalvem, seminaque late alato-marginata, floribus 



6-7-andris fructuqne minoribuSj sepalis angustioribus, pedicellisque 



nee pubcscentibus nee gland ulosis differt. 



In several of the characters above enumerated, and smaller size, this 

 much confused or overlooked, and perhaps still questionable species, 

 agrees better with Spergtda pentandra^ L., than with S, arvensis, L. ; 

 judging of the former not uncontroverted plant by one of Loffling s 

 original specimens (see Smith's E, Flora, ii. 338) preserved in the 

 Eanksian Herbarium. It has been sent however under both these 

 names by Bourgeau to Europe. The Banksian Herbarium, for exam- 

 ple, contains, — 



(1). One whole sheet of Canarian specimens of Spergularia fallax, 

 from Bourgeau, labelled ''PI. Canarienses, No. 334, Spergula arvensis, 

 L. (Phytogr. Canar. i. 146), Teneriffa, Laguna, 38 Jan. 1845." 



(2), Another sheet from the same botanist, marked "PI. Canar. No. 

 410, Spergula pmtandra, L. (Phytogr. Canar. i. 145), Teneriffa, Mesa 

 de Mota, Jan. 1849," is composed of two unquestionable specimens of 

 LepigonumfallaXy and two others of a totally different plant, viz. Sper- 

 gnktria rubra {Areriaria rubra, var. a, L. ; Ahine rubra^ Wahlenb.); a 

 confusion the more singular, because this latter plant has been also sent 

 by Bourgeau to the Banksian Herbarium, correctly named, on another 

 sheet, labelled "PI. Canar. No. 302, Alsine rubra, Wahlenb. (Phytogr. 



L 



Canar. i. 148), Lancerotta, prope opp. Teguise, 1845." 



(3). A third sheet, marked ^'Spergula pentandra, L.," contains, in 

 addition to six small specimens from *^Hispania, C. G. Ortega, M.P-> 

 1777," of perhaps true Spergula pentandra, having at least a distinctly 

 five-valved capsule, — another undoubted specimen of Spergularia fallax, 

 found " In Insulis Canariensibus, Webb." 



Thus the plant appears to be diffused throughout the whole Macaro- 

 nesian archipelago ; though hitherto confounded with one or the other 

 of the above old-established species. It differs however from both in 

 its three styles, three-valved capsule, and six to seven stamens; thus 

 belonging to Spergularia, Pers. {Lepigomtm, Pr., Wahlb.; Jhine, 



