156 CARYOPHYLLACEAE 



Tissa bracteata Small, Fl. S.E. U.S. 418, 1330. 1903. 

 Spergularia bracteata A. Nels. & Macbr. Bot. Gaz. 61: 30, 1916. 



Low depressed annual, the stems divaricately branched, glandular-pubescent. Leaves flat but 

 rather thick, narrowly linear, 5-15 mm. long; stipules small; flowers in open leafy-bracted cymes; 

 pedicels slender, 5—10 mm. long; sepals 3-4 mm. long; petals 5, rose-colored, scarcely equaling 

 the sepals ; stamens 4-7 ; capsule 3-4 mm. long ; seeds black, faintly reticulate, not winged. 



Sandy or gravelly bars, Upper Sonoran Zones; Columbia River Basin, Washington and Idaho, to the 

 Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, California. Type locality: in Europe. April-Nov. 



7. Spergularia atrosperma R. P. Rossb. Black-seeded Spurry. Fig. 1711. 



Spergularia atrosperma R. P. Rossb. Rhodora 42: 80. 1940. 



Annual, branching from the base, the branches few to several, erect or spreading, 5-18 cm. 

 long, glabrous or glandular-villous. Leaves linear, not fascicled, 10-25 mm. long, narrowly linear ; 

 stipules broadly triangular, acuminate; cymes with filiform internodes; sepals ovate-lanceolate, 

 3-4 mm. long; petals ovate, 2-2.5 mm. long; stamens 4-8; capsules 3-5 mm. long; seeds black, 

 finely areolate, 0.6-0.8 mm. long, iridescent. 



Alkaline soils, Sonoran and Transition Zones; Sacramento Valley to southern California, and Carson 

 Valley, Nevada. Type locality: Los Bafios Hills, Merced County, California. April-July. 



8. Spergularia rubra (L.) Presl. Purple Sand Spurry. Fig. 1712. 



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

 Tissa rubra Britt. Bull. Torrey Club 16: 127. 1889. 

 Spergularia rubra Presl, Fl. Cech. 94. 1819. 

 Buda rubra Dumort. Fl. Belg. 110. 1827. 



Annual or perennial, prostrate or decumbent, forming dense mats, the stems slender, 6-25 

 cm. long, glandular above. Leaves linear, 6-12 mm. long, cuspidate, densely fascicled ; stipules 

 attenuate-lanceolate, 4-5 mm. long, conspicuously silvery ; cymes small, pedicels slender, exceeding 

 the foliaceous bracts ; sepals oblong-lanceolate, acute, 3-4 mm. long ; petals reddish, about as 

 long as the sepals; stamens 6-10; capsule acute, equaling or exceeding the sepals; seeds dark 

 brown, rounded, minutely papillate, especially on the edges, 0.4-0.6 mm. long. 



Waste places and roadsides; introduced in the Pacific States, and becoming fairly common from the Puget 

 Sound to southern California; also in the eastern states. Native of Eurasia. April-Sept. 



9. Spergularia villosa (Pers.) Camb. Villous Sand Spurry. Fig. 1713. 



Spergula villosa Pers. Syn. PI. 1: S22. 1805. 



risjo Clevelandii Greene, Fl. Fran. 127. 1891. 



Spergularia villosa Camb. in St. Hil. Fl. Bras. Merid. 2: 178. 1892. 



Spergularia Clevelandii Robinson, Proc. Amer. Acad. 29: 310. 1894. 



Atsine Clevelandii House, Amer. Midi. Nat. 7: 134. 1921. 



Plants perennial with a slender taproot, viscid-glandular and scarcely or not at all fleshy, 

 the stems slender, prostrate or ascending, 1-3 dm. high, often much branched and forming mats. 

 Leaves fascicled, filiform and nearly terete, attenuate, 1-2 cm. long, exceeding the internodes; 

 stipules attenuate-lanceolate, 2-8 mm. long ; cymes terminal ; sepals oblong, acute, 3-5 mm. long ; 

 petals about as long as sepals, white ; capsule slightly exceeding the sepals ; seeds black, winged 

 or sometimes some of them wingless. 



Usually in sandy soil, near the coast; San Francisco Bay to northern Lower California; also South America. 

 Type locality: Montevideo, Uruguay. April- July. 



10. Spergularia macrotheca (Hornem.) Heynh. Large-flowered Sand Spurry. 



Fig. 1714. 



Arenaria macrotheca Hornem. ex Cham. & Schl. Linnaea 1: 53. 1826. 



Lepigonum macrothecum Fisch. & Mey. Ind. Sem. Hort. Petrop. 3: 14. 1837. 



Spergularia macrotheca Heynh. Nom. 2: 689. 1840. 



Tissa macrotheca var. scariosa Britt. Bull. Torrey Club 16: 129. 1889. 



Tissa pallida Greene ex Britt. Bull. Torrey Club 16: 129. 1889. 



Tissa valida Greene, Erythea 1 : 106. 1893. 



Perennial from a stout fleshy root, more or less glandular-pubescent throughout, the stems 

 stout, ascending, 1-4 dm. high, branching from the base. Leaves broadly linear, 15-40 mm. long; 

 cymes terminal, their branches often racemose; pedicels about 15 mm. long; sepals 5-10 mm. long, 

 broadly scarious-margined ; petals rose-colored, equaling the sepals ; capsule shorter than or 

 equaling the sepals ; seeds dark brown, winged or not, the sides smooth. 



Saline soils, near the coast; Washington to Lower California. Type locality: California. A variable species 

 of which the following varieties may be recognized. 



Spergularia macrotheca var. leucantha (Greene) Robinson, Proc. Amer. Acad. 29: 313. 1894. (Tissa 

 leucantha Greene, Pittonia 1: 301. 1899. Tissa leucantha var. glabra Davidson, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. 25: 84. 

 1926.) Glabrous throughout, or sparsely glandular-pubescent above; flowers white; capsule exceeding the sepals. 

 This variety grows in alkaline soils of the interior valleys of central and southern California. 



Spergularia macrotheca var. longistyla R. P. Rossb. Rhodora 42: 78. 1940. Petals white; styles divided 

 to the base, 2-3 mm. long; capsule 5-6 mm. long. Alkaline soils, Upper Sonoran Zone; Inner Coast Ranges from 

 Napa County to Alameda County, California. 



