CHICKWEED FAMILY 155 



1. Spergularia platensis (Camb.) Fenzl. La Plata Sand Spurry. Fig. 1705. 



Balardia platensis Camb. in St. Hil. Fl. Bras. Merid. 2: 181. pi. 111. 1829. 

 Spergularia platensis Fenzl, Ann. Wien. Mus. 2: 272. 1839. 

 Lepigonum gracile S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 17: 367. 1882. 

 Tissa gracilis Britt. Bull. Torrey Club 16: 128. 1889. 



Annual, diffusely branched forming depressed mats, 2-3 dm. across, glabrous and not at all 

 fleshy, the ultimate branches almost filiform. Leaves narrowly linear, flat, 1-2 cm. long, scarcely 

 1 mm. wide ; stipules small, 1-3 mm. long ; flowers numerous, in open cymes ; pedicels filiform, 

 2-8 mm. long ; sepals scarcely 2 mm. long ; petals minute or rarely none ; stamens 2 ; capsule 

 1.5-2.5 mm. long; seeds brown, minute, strongly rough-tuberculate. 



Desiccated vernal pools, Sonoran Zones; southern California and Texas; also southern Brazil from whence 

 it is probably introduced. March-June. 



2. Spergularia Bocconei (Scheele) Foucaud. Boccone's Sand Spurry. 



Fig. 1706. 



Alsine Bocconei Scheele, Flora 26: 431. 1843. 



Tissa luteola Greene, Pittonia 5: 114. 1903. 



Spergularia Bocconei Foucaud ex Merino, Mem. Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 2: 496. 1904. 



Alsine luteola House, Amer. Midi. Nat. 7: 134. 1921. 



Annual, much branched from the base forming mats 8-20 cm. broad, often yellowish green, 

 glabrous except for glandular hairs on the pedicels and sepals, or glandular-villous throughout. 

 Leaves linear, subterete, 1-2 cm. long, pungently acute ; stipules deltoid, acuminate, 2-3 mm. long ; 

 flowers numerous, densely cymose, short-pedicelled ; sepals with broad scarious margins, 2-3 

 mm. long; petals about equaling the sepals, white or tinged with rose; stamens 6-10; seeds 

 minute, 0.4-0.5 mm. long, brown, wingless, glandular-papillate. 



Along beaten paths and in saline soils, probably introduced from southern Europe; Portland, Oregon, and 

 central to southern California. April-Sept. 



3. Spergularia canadensis var. occidentalis R. P. Rossb. Canadian Sand 



Spurry. Fig. 1707. 



Spergularia canadensis var. occidentalis R. P. Rossb. Rhodora 42: 116. 1940. 



Annual, stems erect or ascending, sparsely glandular-villous or glabrous. Leaves linear, 

 fleshy, blunt-tipped not mucronate, 1-4 cm. long ; stipules triangular ; inflorescence open, leafy ; 

 sepals 3-4.5 mm. long, glabrous or glandular-villous; petals white or pink; stamens 2-5; fruiting 

 pedicel reflexed, 4-15 mm. long; capsule 4.5-6.5 mm. long; seeds brown, dull, 0.9-1.4 mm. long, 

 usually smooth on the sides, often glandular-pubescent especially at the summit, and often with 

 a whitish erose wing. 



Salt marshes along the coast, mainly Boreal Zones; Vancouver Island, British Columbia, to Humboldt Bay, 

 California. Type locality: brackish clay near mouth of Palix River, Pacific County, Washington. June-Aug. 



4. Spergularia marina (L.) Griseb. Salt-marsh Sand Spurry. Fig. 1708. 



Arenaria rubra var. marina L. Sp. PI. 423. 1753. 



Arenaria marina All. Fl. Ped. 2: 114. 1785. 



Spergularia salina J. & C. Presl, Fl. Cech. 95. 1819. 



Buda marina Dumort. Fl. Belg. 110. 1827. 



Spergularia marina Griseb. Spicil. Fl. Rumel. 1: 213. 1843. 



Tissa marina Britt. Bull. Torrey Club 16: 126. 1889. 



Annual, fleshy and more or less glandular-pubescent, the stems erect or ascending, 1-3 dm. 

 long. Leaves fleshy, rarely slightly fascicled, linear, 2-4 cm. long ; stipules ovate-deltoid, scarious, 

 2-4 mm. long ; flowers in terminal leafy cymose racemes ; sepals ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 3-5 

 mm. long ; petals pink, nearly as long as the sepals ; stamens 2-5 ; capsule equaling or slightly 

 exceeding the sepals ; seeds obovoid, glandular-papillose or rarely almost smooth. 



Sea beaches, borders of salt marshes, and alkaline plains; Washington to southern California, also on the 

 Atlantic coast and in the interior; Eurasia. March-Sept. 



5. Spergularia media (L.) Presl. Middle-sized Sand Spurry. Fig. 1709. 



Arenaria media L. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 606. 1762. 

 Spergularia media Presl, Fl. Sic. 1: 161. 1826. 



Annual or perennial with one to many ascending or decumbent stems, glabrous or the upper 

 internodes sparingly glandular-pubescent. Leaves 1-5 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide, with 1-3 smaller 

 ones in the axils or not at all fascicled ; stipules deltoid, 3-6 mm. long ; sepals 3-6 mm. long ; petals 

 2.5-4.5 mm. long, white; stamens 9-10; capsule usually a little longer than the sepals; seeds 

 smooth or faintly reticulate, commonly with a prominent scarious wing. 



Sparingly introduced in the Pacific States; tide flats at Toledo and ballast at Linton, Oregon; also Marin 

 County, California; native of Europe. May-July. 



6. Spergularia diandra (Guss.) Boiss. Mediterranean Sand Spurry. Fig. 1710. 



Arenaria diandra Guss. Prodr. Sic. 1: 515. 1827. 



Spergularia diandra Boiss. Fl. Orien. 1: 733. 1867. 



Spergularia salsuginea var. bracteata Robinson, Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 1: 251. 1897. 



