126 



of which occur within the United States. The apparently great 

 divergence from the views of the eminent EngHsh and French 

 authors above mentioned is readily explicable by stating that the 

 material on which the additional five or six species I have been 

 able to recognize is based, is quite new, and none of them have 

 been studied by either Bentham or Baillon. It is to Professor 

 Greene that I am indebted for much of the material which has 

 thrown most light on the Pacific Coast forms, and he informs me 

 that he has evidence of the existence of other forms, sptcimens 

 of which in satisfactory amount and condition for critical study 

 are not yet available. So far as the twenty-five species recog- 

 nized by Ki|idberg are concerned, I am entirely satisfied that 

 they are mainly artificial, and actually represent not many more 

 than the three or four of Bentham or Baillon. 



It is hardly necessary that I should discuss the generic name of 

 these plants; Professor Greene has very recently alluded to it in 

 " Pittonia," and M. Baillon has adopted it in his " Histoire." 

 Suffice it to say that there is no valid choice in the matter, for 

 1763, the date of Adanson's " Families des Plantes," is fifty-four 

 years before the publication of Lepigonum, and a little more 

 than that earlier than Spergiilaria. There is no doubt whatever as 

 to what Adanson meant, and hence it becomes a matter of mere 

 priority of publication, for which fifty-four years will be consid- 

 ered ample, I believe, by even the most conservative. Adanson 

 considered that the species known at his time formed two genera, 

 and called the other one B?ida, under which species have been 

 named by DuMortier in his " Florula Belgica;" this view has not 

 been accepted by any recent botanist, and as Tissa occurs first in 

 Adanson's work, it has priority of place and must stand as the 

 generic appellation of these interesting plants. 



Through the courtesy of Mr. Redfield and Dr. Watson I have 

 been able to make quite careful examinations of the materials in 

 the Cambridge and Philadelphia herbaria. 



(A) ANNUALS; ROOTS FIBROUS. 

 * Species of ihe sea-beaches or salt-marshes or of the borders of salt lakes ; 

 leaves very fleshy ; stamens (always ? 10 ;) petals pink, (varying to white ?). 



I. TiSSA MARINA (L.) {Arenaria rubra, L., var. marina, L., 

 Sp. PI. 606 (1753); including Lcpigomun inarinum, Kindb. 



