ROBINSON. — ALSINE^. 313 



Mey. 1. c. Spergularia rubra, Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 70. — Cali- 

 fornia, chiefly on or near the coast. A polymorphous species, the 

 varieties of which, although diverse in aspect, appear in a large series 

 of specimens to be thoroughly connected by intermediates. 



"Var. leucantha. Erect or nearly so, with long internodes : 

 leaves somewhat narrower and more erect than in the type : floral 

 bracts reduced and inflorescence more distinctly cymose ; pedicels 

 elongated, rather rigidly spreading or deflexed : corolla white, nearly 

 6 lines in diameter. — Tissa leucantha, Greene, Fl. Francis. 127. — 

 A variety of alkaline regions of the interior. A form from Vauden 

 (Mrs. Brandegee) , identical in habit and foliage, has magenta flowers. 



"Var. scariosa. Low, pale, smoothish near the base, and often 

 very glandular-viscid above, densely leafy ; the internodes scarcely 

 or not at all developed : leaves J— \ inch long, acute ; stipules con- 

 spicuous, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 4-5 lines long : inflorescence 

 racemiform ; pedicels not greatly exceeding the calyx. — Tissa macro- 

 theca, var. scariosa, Britton, Bull. Torr. Club, xvi. 129. Tissa pallida, 

 Greene ex Britton, 1. c. xvi. 129; Fl. Francis, i. 127. — Coast at 

 Monterey, California, Torrey ; Hooker fy Gray, 1877; Gray, 1885; 

 and at Fort Point, Brandegee. Tissa valida, Greene, Erythea, i. 107, 

 appears to be a firmer and more erect form of the same thing, also 

 pale and very viscid, but with more elongated internodes and dis- 

 tinctly dichotomous cymose inflorescence. — Island of Santa Cruz, 

 according to Professor Greene. 



SPERGfULiA, L. Spurry. (Name from the Latin spargere, to 

 strew, in reference to the scattering of the numerous seeds.) — Annuals 

 with narrowly linear slightly fleshy apparently whorled leaves ; one 

 species common in America, having probably been introduced with 

 grain from the Old World. — Gen. n. 875 ; Reichb. Iconogr. vi. 

 t. 511-513. 



S. arvensis, L. A foot or two high : leaves numerous in rather 

 remote whorls : inflorescence a terminal naked spreading cymose 

 panicle ; pedicels often deflexed in fruit : petals white, equalling or 

 slightly exceeding the sepals, 2-2i lines long : capsule ovate-globose ; 

 seeds black minutely roughened with light-colored papillae, acutely 

 edged but scarcely winged. — Spec. 440; Walt. Car. 142; Eng. Bot. 

 xxii. t. 1535; Pursh, Fl. 320; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 92; Torr. & 

 Gray, Fl. i. 174 ; Rothr. PI. Alask. 444. S. ramosissima, Dougl. ms. 

 according to Torr. & Gray, 1. c. — Grain fields and cultivated grounds, 

 common, United States and Canada, northward to Alaska. (Intro- 

 duced from the Old World.) 



