92 PINK FAMILY 



4. ARENARIA. Sandwort. 

 Low branching annuals and perennials with linear sessile 

 leaves without stipules. Sepals and petals 5 each, the latter 

 white and entire. Stamens 10. Styles 3. 

 Petals shorter than the rigidly sharp-pointed sepals; leafy 



glandular perennial 1. A. nuttallii. 



Petals longer than the sepals. 



Plant perennial, with more or less woody base. 



Compact Alpine plant, not 3 in. high 2. A. compacta. 



Taller, more loosely branched. 



Flowers on long pedicels; stems branched throughout. .3. A. capillaris. 

 Flowers in small heads; stems simple above the leafy 



base 4. A. congesta. 



Plant annual; flowers showy, on naked pedicels 5. A. douglasii. 



1. A. nuttallii Pax. Stems leafy, numerous and matted, 

 from a thick perennial root, 2 to 6 in. high, glandular. Leaves 

 rigid, sharply pointed, about y^ in. long. Flowers short-pedi- 

 celed, in green leafy-bracted clusters. Sepals with strong 

 midrib, rigidly sharp-pointed. Capsule with 3 entire valves. — 

 To be expected at more than middle altitudes. The form with 

 leaves less rigid, scarcely spreading or pungent, and very 

 attenuate sepals % in. long is the var. gracilis Rob. 



2. A. compacta Coville. Stems much branched and leafy, 

 forming dense mats only an inch or two high, from a thick 

 woody root. Leaves awl-like, less than *4 m - l° n g» minutely 

 hairy. Flowers terminal on short naked pedicels, small. 

 Sepals acute, green only in the middle, shorter than the 

 petals. — Alpine plant from Mt. Dana, near Bloody Canon, 

 and the Mt. Whitney district. 



3. A. capillaris Poir. Stems erect from a branching per- 

 ennial base, densely leafy below, 3 to 8 in. high. Leaves 

 rigid, sharp-pointed; the lower in dense fascicles, ^ to 1 in. 

 or more long; upper in pairs, shorter. Pedicels glandular, 

 mostly X / A to 34 in. long, the flowers therefore scattered. 

 Sepals obtuse or barely acute. Capsule with usually 3 toothed 

 valves. 



This Arenaria grows on nearly all of the domes and 

 gravelly summits from El Capitan and Sentinel Dome to Mt. 

 Conness, etc. The leafy portion is often very compact, espe- 

 cially in plants of high altitudes, and the old branches are 

 woody and scaly with dry leaves of previous years. 



4. A. congesta Nutt. Perennial and branching at the 

 densely leafy base, the simple erect stems 6 to 12 in. high. 

 Leaves rigid, sharp; the lower fascicled, l / 2 to 2 in. long; 



