126 CARYOPHYLLE^. 



4. A. ciliata. Annual, very slender and diffuse, 1—3 in. hig^h, rough - 

 ish with short gland-tipped hairs : leaves subulate-linear, }4 in. long, 

 their scariously dilated and connate bases sparsely ciliolate : fl. very 

 numerous, short-pedicelled, erect, 4-merous : sepals ovate-oblong, very 

 obtuse, surpassed by the capsule r seeds dull, muriculate.— Vicinity of 

 lone ; a plant of compact habit, very different from the other species. 



9. SPERCiULA, Dodonxm (Oorn-Spureey). Herbs with linear and 

 apparently whorled leaves ; the opposite pair (subtended by a pair of 

 scarious stipular scales) being augmented by several crowded and spread- 

 ing fascicled ones of nearly their own size which along with them seem 

 to form a verticil. Flowers 5-merous, perfectly symmetrical (stamens 

 10 or 5) ; the 5 styles alternate with the sepals, the 5 valves of the capsule 

 opposite the sepals. Petals entire. Seeds laterally compressed, acutely 

 margined or winged. Embryo spiral. 



1. S. ARVENSis, Linn. Sp. PI. i. 440 (1753). Glabrous or pilose- 

 pubescent and slightly clammy, 1—2 ft. high, simple or with many 

 decumbent basal branches : leaves almost filiform, 1—2 in. long : cyme 

 terminal, ample,*dichotomous, the long pedicels nodding after flowering, 

 but erect in flower and again when the capsule is mature : sepals oblong 

 or ovate, 2—3 lines long, the white petals rather long, unfolding only in 

 sunshine : capsule ovoid : seeds acutely margined. — Naturalized in fields 

 and by waysides everywhere in the Bay region. Jan.— Sept. 



10. TISSA, Adanson (Sand Spurrey). More or less succulent herbs 

 of maritime districts or subsaline plains inland. Leaves linear or 

 subulate, with scarious stipules. Flowers arranged dichotomously or 

 unilaterally. Sepals 5. Petals 5, entire (sometimes fewer than 5 or 

 even 0). Stamens 2—10. Styles 3, rarely 5. Capsule 3-valved. Seeds 

 winged or wingless. Embryo annular. 



* Perennials with fusiform fleshy roots. 

 -)- Internodes not short (about 1 in.); fascicled leaves few. 



1. T. macrotheca, Britt. Bull. Torr. Club, xvi. 129 (1889) partly ; 

 Hornem. in Ch. & Schl. Linnsea, i. 53 (1826), under Arenaria; F. & M. in 

 Kindb. Monogf. Lep. 16 (1863), under Lepigonum. Stems ascending or 

 depressed, stoutish, terete, often 1 ft. high ; whole herbage deep green 

 and rather densely viscid-pubescent : leaves semiterete, linear-subulate, 

 acute, often longer than the internodes (1 — 2 in.) ; stipules ovate- 

 triangular, 2 lines long : pedicels }4 ^^- ^ong or more, subtended by leafy 

 bracts often nearly as long : sepals }4, in. long, with narrow scarioias 

 margins : petals as long, lilac : capsule ovoid, about equalling the calyx : 

 seeds triquetrous-obovate, smooth, dark brown, with a very narrow or 

 sometimes obsolete scarious wing. — Maritime only, and common from 

 the Bay region southward, in sandy soil along the borders of salt marshes. 



