CARYOPHYLLEiE. 125 



locality, says it is extinct there. Mr. Parish has discovered it, or a plant 

 very like it, in a marsh near San Bernardino. 



* * * Flotcers sovtelimes 4-fnerous; valves of capsule bifid; seeds ii:Hh a 

 small caruncle at the hilum. — Genus Mcehkingia, Linn. 



7. A. iiiacrophylla, Hook. Fl. i. 102. t. 37 (1830). Stems low, ascend- 

 ing, from running rootstocks, mostly simple, leaf}', puberiilent above : 

 leaves in 3 or 4 pairs, lanceolate, acute at each end, 1 — 2 in. long, thin and 

 flaccid : fl. few, on slender pedicels : sepals ovate-oblong, acuminate, 

 1% — 2V^ lines long, 1-nerved, longer than the obtuse petals : capsule 

 ovoid, nearly equalling the calyx : seeds few, large, smooth.^In shady 

 places, from Marin and Sierra counties northward ; rather rare. In 

 specimens from Humboldt Co., ChesxtU ct Drew, the leaves are broader 

 than in the type, and scarcely at all acuminate. 



8. ALSIXELLA, DiUenius (Pearlwoet). Diminutive herbs with 

 subulate or filiform exstipulate leaves, and minute long-pedicelled often 

 apetalous flowers. Sepals 4 or 5, commonly rotate-spreading in fruit. 

 Petals when present as many, entire or emarginate. Styles 4 or 5. Cap- 

 sule 1-celled, Gc -seeded, dehiscent to the base into as many entire valves 

 as there are styles ; the valves alternate with the sepals. 



1. A. occidentalis, Greene. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. x. 345 (1875), 



under Sagina. Annual, glabrous or nearly so, almost capillary, decum- 

 bent at base or ascending, 1 — 6 in. high : leaves in pairs (none fascicled), 

 slightly connate, acute, }4, — % in. long : fl. 5-merou8, on long pedicels, 

 these erect in fruit : sepals 1 line long • petals nearly as long : stamens 

 10 : capsule exceeding the calyx. — Very common, in almost every variety 

 of soil, throughout our whole district from San Francisco northward, but 

 often a minute and obscure plant. Mar. — May. 



2. A. sa^noides, Greene. Linn. Sp. PI. i. 441 (1753), under Spergula. 

 Sagiiia Linnxi, Presl. Rel. Hsenk. ii. 14 (1835). Biennial or perennial, 

 cespitose, glabrous and somewhat succulent, 1 — 2 in. high : leaves J4 — J^ 

 in. long, somewhat fascicled : pedicels elongated, nodding after flower- 

 ing : sepals a line long, obtuse, exceeding the petals : stamens 10 : 

 capsule twice the length of the calyx. — A plant of the far north ; found, 

 however, at Webber Lake, Lennnou. 



3. A. crassicaulis, Greene. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad, xviii. 191 (1883), 

 under Sagina. Perennial, stoutish and succulent, decumbent : leaves 

 broadly linear, acute, 2 — 6 lines long, scarious and connate at base : 

 pedicels 4 —8 lines long ; fl. erect or nodding, large, the sepals more than 

 a line long ; petals smaller : styles very short : capsule ovate, scarcely 

 exserted from the closed fruiting calyx. — A little known apparently 

 maritime species found at Dillon's Beach, Marin Co., 1880, /. W. Congdon. 



