100 , CARYOPHYLLACEAE. 



Alsine longipes (Goldie) Coville. Somewhat tufted, with creeping root- 

 stocks, smooth and shining throughout; stems 4-angled, erect, 15-40 cm. high, 

 branched above; leaves linear-lanceolate, tapering from the base to the acute 

 apex, prominently 1-nerved, 2-3 cm. long; flowers solitary or in very loose 

 cymes; bracts reduced and scarious or when the flowers are few or solitary 

 foliaceous; pedicels slender, 2-10 cm. long; petals 2-cleft, exceeding the rather 

 obtuse sepals; capsule longer than the calyx; seeds smooth, shining. Moist 

 places, not rare. 



Alsine longifolia (Muhl.) Britt. Erect or nearly so, the stem sharply 

 4-angled, glabrous, 20-40 cm. high; leaves linear or oblong-linear, acute at 

 each end, often ciliate near the base, 2-3 cm. long; cyme open, long-peduncled, 

 becoming lateral, many-flowered; pedicels spreading or at length deflexed; 

 petals exceeding the sepals; capsule pale, longer than the calyx. In wet 

 meadows, rare in our limits. 



Alsine graminea (L.) Britt. Whole plant, glabrous, shining; stems 4- 

 angled, ascending, branched above, 35-60 cm. high; leaves sessile, lanceolate, 

 acute, 2-3 cm. long; flowers in a loose much-forked cyme; bracts scarious, 

 somewhat ciliate; pedicels slender, spreading or reflexed; sepals lanceolate, 

 acute, 3-nerved, nearly equalling the capsule; petals 2-cleft, as long as the 

 sepals; seeds minutely roughened. Very sparingly introduced. 



135. ARENARIA. SAND WORT. 



Annual or perennial mainly tufted herbs; leaves sessile, often 

 subulate and more or less rigid; stipules none; flowers white, 

 cymosely panicled or capitate, rarely solitary and axillary; 

 sepals 5; petals 5, very rarely minute or wanting, entire or 

 emarginate, white or nearly so; stamens 10, or often fewer; 

 styles generally 3, rarely 2-5 ; capsule globose or oblong, dehiscent 

 at the apex by as many or twice as many valves as there are styles. 



Valves of the capsule entire; petals wanting. A. pusilla. 

 Valves of the capsule 2-toothed; petals present. 



Sepals obtuse; flowers in loose cymes. A. capillaris. 

 Sepals not obtuse. 



Flowers in dense clusters. A. congesta. 



Flowers in loose clusters. A. glabrescens. 



Arenaria pusilla Wats. Wholly glabrous; stems very slender, usually 

 branched, 2-5 cm. high; leaves oblong or ovate, 2-3 mm. long, distant; sepals 

 lanceolate, acuminate, 2-2.5 mm. long; petals wanting. Stony soil, common 

 but very inconspicuous. 



Arenaria capillaris Poir. Glabrous below, glandular-pubescent above; 

 stems tufted, erect, 10-30 cm. tall; leaves narrowly linear, rather rigid, sharply 

 cuspidate, chiefly grouped in fascicles at the bases of the erect stems, somewhat 

 pungent, little spreading; cauline few, reduced; flowers in loose cymes; petals 

 obovate, considerably exceeding the short broadly ovate obtuse sepals. Mt, 

 Carlton, Spokane County. 



Arenaria congesta Nutt. Usually glabrous throughout; stems tufted, 

 erect, 15-40 cm. tall; joints prominent; leaves narrowly linear, rather rigid, 

 sharply cuspidate, 2-5 cm. long, the cauline pairs rather distant; flowers 

 congested into 1-3 heads on each stalk; bracts scarious; sepals ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, acuminate, 3-nerved, 3-4 mm. long, shorter than the petals, scarious- 

 margined. In rocky places especially in the mountains. 



