332 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



As stated by Linnaeus, II. glabra is a plant of dry gravelly 

 soils, and the form of the eastern counties of Great Britain here 

 described, with which most of the Continental material in Herb. 

 Mus. Brit, under this name agrees, is of annual or biennial 

 duration. Eouy (Fl. France, xii. p. 8) says it is " rarement 

 perennante," and although Babington formerly considered it 

 perennial, in the later editions of the Manual this is altered to 

 " annual or biennial." 



The Herniaria sold by nurserymen as H. glabra differs from 

 this plant in being perennial, and is generally wholly glabrous 

 except for a very few hairs about the apex of its oblong-obovate 

 leaves. It may be a distinct species, and seems to be the H. glabra 

 of Coste's Fl. de France (ii. p. 102), which is said to be perennial. 

 I have collected a similar perennial and nearly glabrous form 

 growing with Scleranthus jyerennia in the High Alps (Saas-Fee at 

 6000 ft. alt.), but my specimens, though flowering freely, show no 

 developed fruit. The following detailed descriptions may be 

 useful : — 



H. ciLiATA Bab. in Trans. Linn. Soc. xvii. p. 453 (1836) ; Eng. 

 Bot. Suppl. 2857 (1843). Icon. E. B. S. 2857. 



Perennial. Stem prostrate, fruticose and naked below, finely 

 pubescent above (usually on the upj)er side only), irregularly 

 branched and often elongate. Stipules membranous, whitish, 

 larger than in H. glabra. Leaves subrotund-ovate to oval or 

 oblong, rarely attenuate below, obtuse, glabrous or ciliate with 

 deciduous hairs. Flowers much larger tlian in H. glabra, less 

 crowded, in smaller and rarely confluent clusters. Sepals oblong, 

 obtuse, about 1 mm. long, sometimes glabrous but often tipped 

 with a deciduous bristle and ciliate with pilose hairs ; anthers 

 tipped with red ; stigmas strongly divergent. Fruit subrotund- 

 oblong, obtuse, equalling the sepals. Seed subrotund-ovate, twice 

 as large as in H. glabra. 



(i ANGUSTiFOLiA. Slender and lax in habit, with stem pubes- 

 cent all round and almost pilose below the nodes. Leaves small, 

 narrowly elliptic or oblanceolate, subacute, ciliate. Sepals 

 ciliate. 



H. ciliata, which invariably grows in maritime situations, was 

 well described by Babington in Eng. Bot. Supplement. It is 

 reduced by Eouy (Fl. France, xii. p. 8) to a variety of the Portu- 

 guese H. mantima Link ap. Schrader Journ. i. p. 57 (1800), and 

 Neues Journ. i. pars 2, p. 136 (1806). Portuguese specimens in 

 Herb. Mus. Brit. (Schultz, Herb. Norm. nov. ser, cent. 29, 

 no. 2829, and Welwitsch, Fl. Lusit. no. 528) show that the 

 two plants are closely allied, but the woody rootstock, thick 

 rugose stems, and strongly pilose leaves and calyx of H. maritima 

 lead me to doubt whether they are conspecihc. Willkomm & 

 Lange (Fl. Hisp. iii. p. 151) adopt the name H. ciliata Bab., 

 showing H. maritima Link as a synonym. 



