ROBINSON. — ALSINE^E. 301 



3-ribbed sepals ; the latter equalled or more or less exceeded by the 

 oblong petals : valves of ovoid capsule exceeding the sepals ; seeds 

 small, margined with a fine muriculate crest (under a strong lens). — 

 Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 179; Eaton & Wright, N. A. Bot. 133 

 (excl. Arkansas spec.) ; Macoun, Bot. Gaz. xvi. 286. A. tenuifolia, 

 var. Americana, Fenzl ex Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 074. Greniera tenella, 

 Gay, Ann. Sci. Nat., ser. 3, iv. 27. Alsine tenella, Torr. Bot. Wilkes 

 Exp. 243. — Rocky places, flowering in midsummer ; Oregon, Nuttall, 

 Tolmie, Hall, Howell, to British Columbia, Kamloops ace. to Macoun ; 

 Nanaimo, Miss Cooley. Like A. Grcenlandica of the Eastern States, 

 this species seems to occur either in mats or in a segregated state. 

 In the former condition it considerably resembles A. stricta, Michx., 

 but is to be distinguished by its small flowers and puberulent inflo- 

 rescence. It differs from A. patula in its broadly ellipticpetals not at 

 all truncate or retuse. 



A. patula, Michx. Stem diffusely branched, 2 inches to a foot 

 in height, often almost filiform: leaves spreading, slightly fleshy: 

 inflorescence dichotomous ; pedicels filiform, spreading: sepals lan- 

 ceolate, attenuate, with 3-5 prominent converging nerves, slightly 

 indurated, a little over 2 lines in length, usually minutely glandular: 

 petals twice as long, entire or retuse, obcordate : the obtuse valves of 

 the capsule about equalling the calyx; seeds black, minutely rough- 

 ened. — Fl. i. 273 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 180 ; Gray, Man. ed. 5, «J1 ; 

 Hill, Bun. Torr. Club, xvii. 172; Macmillan, Bot. Gaz. xv. 332. A. 

 Pitcheri, Nutt., and (?) A. tenella, Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, 1. c, so far as 

 Arkansas plants are concerned. Alsine microsperma, Fenzl ex Torr. 

 & Gray, Fl. i. 674. A. patula, Gray, Man. ed. 2, 58; Chapm. Fl. 

 49. A. Pitcheri, Wood, Class-Book, 260; Chapm. Fl. (Suppl.) 608. 

 Stellaria macropetala, Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 184 (Alsine macropetala, 

 Gray, Gen. ii. 34), differing only in the slightly more deeply divided 

 petals, which are themselves more or less variable, must be referred 

 hither, where its identity of habit and calyx clearly indicates its affinity 

 to be. — Kentucky to Alabama (Peters, Mohr) and Texas (Drummnnd, 

 Meyer, HucMey), northward to Chicago (Babcock, Hill) and Cass Co., 

 Minnesota (ace. to Macmillan). The leaves of this species are varia- 

 ble, commonly narrowly linear or Aliform, 4-7 lines in length, but 

 they occasionally become l£ inches long and a line wide. 



-»- *- Glabrous. 



A. stricta, Michx. Smooth, loosely matted : stems very numer- 

 ous, slender, ascending, 3-15 inches high, leafy nearly to the middle : 

 leaves subulate-setaceous, conspicuously fascicled in the axils: iuflo- 



