486 CARYOPHYLLACEAE 



loose terminal or axillary cymes on spreading peduneles; peduncles 1 to 2 

 inches long; pedicels 4 to 10 lines long; sepals l^/o to 2 lines long, the petals 

 twice as long, broadly notched at apex; capsule ovate, shorter than the calyx. 

 Meadows or pine forest, 5000 to 8500 feet : Sierra Nevada south to Frazier 

 ]Mt. ; North Coast Ranges. East to the Rocky Mts. and north to Washington. 



Locs. — Frazier Mt., Ventura Co., EaU 6606; Sand Mdw., South Fork Kaweah River, Jepson 

 4687; Hossaek Creek, e. Tulare Co., EaU 8347; Round Mdw., Giant Forest, Jepson 681; Pine 

 Ridge, Fresno Co., EaU 4' Chandler 62; Alder Creek, Yosemite Park, Jepson (count of stamens 

 in four flowers, 5, 6, 6, 10); Morgan, Tehama Co., EaU cf Baheocl: 4335; Plumas Co., Piatt; 

 Susanville, T. Branilegee; Modoc Co., M. S. Baler; Moffitt Creek, Siskiyou Co., Butler 966. 



Refs. — Stell.\ki.a. j.\mesi.4.xa Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 2 : 169 (1828), t.vpe loe. Rocky Mts. 

 S. jamesii Torr. Pac. R. Rep. 4: 69 (18.57). ' Ahine jamesiana Heller, Cat. ed. 2, 4 (1900). 

 A. gtntinosa Heller, Bull. S. Cal. Acad. 2: 67 (1903), type loc. Summit Lake, Mt. Sanhedrin, 

 Eeiler 5880. 



3. SAGINA L. Pearlwort. 

 Diminutive herbs with subulate or filiform leaves. Leaves of the opposite 

 pairs scariou.s-connate at base. Flowers minute, terminal, often loug-pediceled. 

 Sepals 5 or 4, olrtuse. Petals white, much shorter than the sepals, rarely sub- 

 equal, mostly minute, entire or slightly emarginate, or sometimes none. Sta- 

 mens 5 or 10. Styles as many as the sepals and alternate with them. Capsule 

 dehiscent to the base by entire valves. — Species about 20, all continents. (Latin 

 sagina, fattening, some species abundant in sheep-grazed country.) 



Filiform annuals; pedicels straight; low altitudes. 



Sepals and petals 5; connate bases of leaves glabrous 1. S. oceidentalis. 



Sepals 4 ; petals commonly none ; connate bases of leaves ciliolate 2. S. apetaJa. 



More or less succulent, wholly glabrous ; biennial or perennial. 



Petals mostly % length of sepals; pedicels curved at summit; high altitudes 



3. S. linnaei. 



Petals and sepals subequal ; pedicels rarely curved at summit; seashore 



4. -S. crassicauUs. 



1. S. oceidentalis Wats. Western Pearlwort. Inconspicuous annual with 

 almost capillary stems, liranchiug at the base, erect or spreading, 2 to 5 inches 

 high; sliglitly hispidnlous-glandular on the calyx and upper portion of pedi- 

 cel, otherwise glabrous ; upper leaves broadly subidate, acute, 2 to 3 lines long, 

 the lower iiliform-linear, 3 to 6 lines long; pedicels 3 to 6 lines long; sepals 

 and petals 5; sepals % line long, the petals nearly as long; calyx rounded at 

 the l)ase; stamens 3 to 10; capsule l^/i lines in length. 



Not uncommon, but obscure and mostly in low ground or borders of salt 

 marshes: Coast Ranges and Great Valley, south to coastal Southern Cali- 

 fornia, north to Siskiyou Co. Far north to British Columbia. Apr. -May. 



Locs.— Eureka, Traey 2181; Comptche, Harriet TVall-er 304; Ukiah, Bolander 3891 (part of 

 type); Vacaville, Jepson 1205a; Montezuma Hills, Jepson; Oakville, Napa Valley, Jepson: 

 Stege, Tracy 610; Berkeley, Jepson; Santa Inez Mts., Brewer 339 (part of type); Pasadena 

 McClatehie. 



Refs. — SAGiN.i occiDENTALis Wats. Proc. Am. .\cad. 10: 344 (1875), type spms. from 

 "Oregon to San Francisco"; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 169 (1901); Parish, Zoe, 4: 162 

 (1893). AlsineUa oceidentalis Greene, Fl. Fr. 125 (1891). The distinctness of this species 

 and S. erassicaulis has been questioned (Piper, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 11: 259), but altho 

 Sagina is a genus of poorly defined species these two are widely unlike and in respect to each 

 other stand most securely. 



2. S. apetala Ard. var. barbata Fenzl. Tiny annual, erect, 1 to 2 inches 

 high, usually minutely glandular-pubescent; leaves linear-subulate, acute, 1% 

 to 3 lines long, the connate scarious bases more or less ciliolate; pedicels capil- 

 lary, erect; calyx 4-parted; petals commonly none, or 4, minute and obovate; 

 capsule ovoid, II/2 times as long as the calyx. 



About ranches or near dwellings, therefore proliably introduced. Seldom 

 collected but perhaps overlooked. 



