- 
309 
Cal. Perianthium pentaphyllum: Foliolis concavis, oblongis, 
acuminatis, 
er. Petala quinque, aequalia, calyce longiora. 
Stam. Filamenta quinque, capillaria. Antherae subrotundae. 
Pist. Germen subovatum. Styli tres, filiformes. Stigmata 
obtusa. 
Per. Capsula ovata, unilocularis, tecta. 
Sem. plurima, subrotunda. 
As first constituted, Alstne included two species: 1, A. media, 
Linn. (Stellaria media. Vill.); 2, A. segetalis, Linn. (Spergularia 
segetalis, G. Don.). Linnaeus subsequently added a third species, 
A. mucronata, in Species Plantarum, ed. 2, p. 389 (1762). This 
has been identified by different authors with Alsine fasciculata, 
A. rostrata, A. tenuifolia and A. arvatica, all of them species 
of Minuartia, Linn 
Thus Alsine Lind. (1753) = Stellaria + Spergularia (Delia) ; 
and Alsine, Linn. (1762) = Stellaria + Spergularia + Minuartia. 
It included all Alsineae known to Linnaeus which had 5 stamens 
and 3 styles, and was a thoroughly artificial genus, as was pointed 
out by Stokes in 1787.* It differed from Arenaria, Linn., in 
having five instead of ten stamens. This is illustrated by the 
history of A. mucronata: Linnaeus originally sacluded” this 
species in Sp. Pl. ed. 1, p. 424, as Arenaria mucronata (Decandria 
Trigynia), because Haller had placed it in mig eater es t he 
transferred it to Alsine (Pentandria Trigynia), in Sp. Pl. ed. 2 
p. 389, on the strength of Seguier’s statement that the ponies 
had only five stamens. 
Alsine, Linn., was disintegrated in 1789 by Villars, who 
tramalened A. media, Linn., to SE A. segetalis, Lan: 
to Spergula; and A. mucronata, Linn renaria, a8 a synon 
of Arenaria tenuifolia. The eee genus thus disappeared 
completely. § 
In 1791, however, Gaertner recognised that Alsine mucronata 
differed generically from Arenaria in its three-valved capsule, 
and revived the genus Alsine, with A. mu cronata as its type 
the g Inally, redu n. 
(1753) and Cherleria, Linn. (1753) to Alsine, Wahlenb. (1812), 
and excluded Spergularia and Honkenya oe The ae name 
Alsine has om used in “the same sense ay, Boissier 
and Nyman, and in most of the standard Bacageler: floras of the 
nineteenth century. 
* Withering, Arr. Brit. Pl. ed. 2, ‘ Ay 323 (1787). 
+ Enum. Stirp. Helvet. p. 389, n. 13 (1742). 
t Seguier, PI. eae ili. p 175 (1 754), 
§ Hist. Pl. Dauph pp. 615, 628, 634, 636, 657 (1789). 
1791). 
|| De Fyuctbas, | ii. a 2298 ( 
4,81, Lapp. p Tae ). 
** FJ. Sue 
++ Endl, Gen. Pl. p. 964 (1840). 
