122 CARYOPHYLLE^. 



Smith, Fl. Brit. ii. 473 (1800). Alsiae media, Camerarius, Hort. Med. 11 

 (1558) ; Bauh. Pin. 250 (1623) ; Linn. Sp. PI. i. 272 (1753). Weak, flaccid, 

 procumbent, rooting at the lower joints ; stems marked by a pubescent 

 line : leaves ovate, I4 — 9i in. long, on slender petioles, or the upper 

 sessile : floral bracts foliaceous ; pedicels slender, deflexed in fruit : 

 calyx pubescent : stamens 3—10 : capsule oblong-ovate, 2—3 lines long, 

 equalling or exceeding the calyx. — A very common weed of shady places, 

 or sometimes in open ground. Dec. — June. 



* * Leaves lanceolate, sessile ; perennials, except n. 2. 



2. S. iiitens, Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 185 (1838). Annual, the stems 

 almost capillary, diffuse, sparingly leafy, 3—6 in. high, the whole plant 

 very glabrous and shining, or with a slight pubescence below : leaves 

 1^ — 1^ in. long, acute, the lower short-petiolate : fl. erect, on short 

 pedicels, in a very lax bractless cyme: sepals 3-nerved, narrow, acuminate, 

 2 lines long : petals deeply bifid, only half as long, sometimes ; capsule 

 oblong, shorter than the calyx. Of the Coast Range, plains of the interior, 

 and Sierra foot-hills ; very common, yet so delicate and inconspicuous 

 as to be easily overlooked. Mar. —May. 



3. S. umbellata, Turcz. Oat. Baikal, n. 245 (1838). Glabrous, very 

 slender, ascending, from slender creeping scaly rootstocks, 3—5 in. high, 

 sparingly leafy, umbellate-cymose : leaves spreading, elliptic- or oblong- 

 lanceolate, acute at each end, 4—8 lines long : pedicels elongated : sepals 

 ovate-lanceolate, 1 — 1%, lines long, 1-nerved : petals : capsule about 

 2—3 lines long. — High Sierra, in the Yosemite region. July. 



4. S. loiiglpes, Goldie, in Edinb. Phil. Journ. vi. 185 (1822). Glabrous 

 and of a bright shining green, or glaucescent, erect or ascending, 2 in. to 

 W2 ft. high : leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, %—^% in. long, acute, 

 rather rigid, usually ascending : fl. few, on long and slender pedicels, 

 these scarious-bracted or bractless : sepals IJ^- 2)^ lines long, scarcely 

 nerved : petals as long or longer : capsule ovate-oblong, exserted and 

 dark-colored at maturity : seed smooth.— Yosemite and northward. 



5. S. borealis, Bigel. Fl. Bost. 2d ed. 182 (1824). Glabrous and bright 

 green, the slender stems usually weak and decumbent, leafy up to the 

 leafy-bracted cyme, li—1% ft. high : leaves ovate-oblong to linear- 

 lanceolate, 1^—2 in. long, acute, usually spreading, sometimes ascending: 

 pedicels ^.i in. long, spreading or deflexed : sepals ovate to lanceolate, 

 1—2 lines long : petals not longer, 2-parted or : capsule ovate, If^- 2 

 lines long : seed smooth.— In marshes of Mendocino Oo., Bolander; a 

 very large form. 



6. S. crispa, Oh. & Schl. in Linnaea, i. 51 (1826). Near the last, but 

 smaller, more leafy, less distinctly cymose : leaves ovate, elliptical or 

 lanceolate, acute or acuminate, %—% in. long, the margin more or less 



