158 XVI. CARYOPHTLLEiE. [Stellavia. 



Tasmania. Port Dalrymple, R, Brown; coxmnon in ricli and poor, moist and dry 

 soils, /. D, Rooker. 



2. S. glauca, TTith.; 1)0. Prod, i. 397. — Perennial, usually glabrous, 

 smooth, and sliining, "svith slender ascending or erect branches, often 1 to 

 2 ft. high, hut sometimes low and intricate. Leaves linear, acute, f to 

 1^ in. long, or the upper ones short. Pedicels axillaiy or terminal, slender 

 bixt rigid, longer than the leaves. Sepals veiy acute, 3-nerved, about 3 lines 

 long when in flower. Petals about as long, or rather longer, deeply cleft. 

 Capsule ovate, much shorter than the calyx, which usuallv lengthens after 

 flowering.— Eeichb. Ic. PI. Germ. v. t. 223 ; Hook. f. PI. Tasm. i. 44. F. 

 Muell. Pi. Vict. i. 210; S.angfistlfoUa^ Hook. Journ. Bot. i. 230. 



Queensland. Plains of the Condamine river, LeicJihardt. 



W. S. VTales. Marshy places, Longmeadow, etc., R. Brown; Lachlan river, A. Cun- 



ningkam, 



Victoria. Moist, rocky, grassy, or sandj localities, scattered over a considerable extent 

 of the colony, F. Mueller. 



Marshes in various localities, J. B. Hooker. 



S. Australia. Extending to St. Vincent's Gulf, F. Mueller. 



Var. ccespUosa, Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 44. Stems short and very intricate, or densely 

 tufted. Leaves lanceolate-linear. Sepals short and more oLtuse. — S. ccBspitosa^ Hook, 

 f. in Hook. Journ. Bot. ii. 411. 'Tasmania, Gnnn ; and on the Murrav in Victoria, F* 

 Mueller, The specimens show a very gradual passage from this form to the elongated one, 

 in the leaves as well as in the sepals, A similar gradation takes place in the N. American 

 C longijieSj an allied species, yet, to my eyes, always distinct in inflorescence as well as m 

 foliage, 



Var. (?) leptoclada. Annual or, at any rate, flowering the first year, with slender, ascend- 

 ing, erect stems of 5 to 6 in., much branched at the base. Pedicels slender. Flowers 

 small, as in the last variety, hut the sepals more acute. — New England, C. Sluart. 



Var. (?) tenella. Tufted and intricately branched, like the var. caspiiosa, but smaller and 

 much more slender, with crowded, very small leaves i one specimen, with some branches 

 elongated, with narrow-linear leaves. Flowers few, small. Sepals rather obtuse. 



Victoria. Near Melbourne, Adamson ; Gleuelg river, Roherlson. 



Tasmania. Derwcnt river and Kitt's Group in Eass*s Straits, 7f. J?rf??^?»; granite 

 rocks in St. Patrick's river, Gunn. 



The S. glauca is generally diffused over Europe and temperate Asia, and the Australian 

 form, in its elongated state, cannot at all be distinguished from many European specimens 

 grown in similar localities. The northern plant has, however, more frequently larger petals, 

 and has sometimes a tendency to assume a paniculate inflorescence, with the floral leaves 

 reduced to small bracts, a j>proaching that of S. graminea ; the Australian plant, on the 

 contrary, tends rather, in its extreme varieties, towards the intricate stems and habit of 

 & pimgens. 



3. S. flaccida, Uool:. Camp, Bot. Mag. i. 275. Apparently pereimial, with 

 weak and decumbent very intricate branches, often extending to several fert, 

 glal)rous and sliinino:, or with loose spreading scattered hairs especially about 

 the nodes. Leaves ovate to lanceolate, veiy acute, thiu and flaccid, often un- 

 dulate on the margin, narrowed and ciliate at the base, rarely exceeding i i^- 

 without the petiole, which is long in the lower leaves, short or none in the 

 upper ones. Pedicels all axillary, and usually 1 to 1^ in. long. Sepals 3 to 

 2^ lines long, broadly lanceolate, acute, with a scarious border, usually 3- 

 nerved, but the lateral nerves often very faint, often ciliate. Petals rather 

 longer, deeply cleft. Capsule ovoid, usually exceeding the ealvx. — ^S'. media, 

 var., Hook. f. PL Tasm. i. 43 ; F. Muell. PL Vict. i. 211. 



