82 ALSINACEAE 



The more frequent tint of the flowers is a lapis lazuli blue, which 

 affords a brilliant contrast to the yellow flowers of the Helianthemum 

 and the darker orange flowers of the Hippocrepis. But plants with pale 

 blue, white, pink, and red flowers are also found. It is abundant on 

 the Lower Chalk and on the Upper Chalk until the latter is obscured 

 by Tertiaries. 



P. calcarea occurs in all the bordering counties. 



ALSINACEAE, Wahl. Fl. Suec. i. 74 (1824). 

 Car?jophplIeae (Juss.), Benth. and Hook. Gen. PI. i. 141. 

 DIANTHUS, Linn. Gen. n. 500 {Caryophyllus,Tonrneiort,lnst.t. 174). 

 D. Armeria, Linn. Sp. PI. 4T0 (1753). Wild Pink. 



Top. Bot. 62. Syme, E. B. ii. 45, t. 191. Nyman, 102. Fl. Oxf. 50. 

 Native. Viatical. Sandy fields and hedge-banks. Very local. A. 



June-August. 

 First record. Caryophilliis pratensis, Ger. 594. In a lane near Early 

 Heath by Redding, Merrett's Pinax, 1666. 

 3. Pang. 'Englefield, Walk. Fl. Oxf. Side of railway near Pangbourn, 

 Holland. Buckhold, between Ashampstead Common and Pang- 

 bourn, Miss Fry. Near Bradfield College, Jenkinson. 

 6. Loddon. Early Heath, Merrett. Maidenhead, Boswell. Winter 

 Hill. Cookham, Marshall. In a waste, disused portion of the 

 brickfields at Crazey Hill, Stanton. Near Wellington College, 

 rare, W. W. Fisher. Aston Lane, Leslie and Miss Stapleton. Near 

 Loddon Bridge ; this is probably the same as Merrett's locality : 

 if so, the permanence of a rare annual for over two centuries is 

 interesting. Mr. Tufnail gathered it here in flower in SejDtember, 

 1896. Near Clewer. 

 D. Armeria is one of our very local species, and is confined to sandy 

 and gravelly soil in sunny exposures in the south of Berkshire. East 

 Gloucestershire is the only bordering county for which it is not 

 recorded. 



D. DELToiDEs, Linn. Sp. PI. 411 (1753). Maiden Pink. 



Incog. Syme, E. B. ii. 46, t. 192. Nyraan, loi. Top. Bot, 67,. 



D. delfoides, Deptford Pink, Mr. Bicheno, old walls, &c., Mavor^s Aqr. Berks, 

 1809. The following entry in [Ilotv^s'] Phyt. Brit, may refer to this species : 

 '^ Armeria flore simplici. William with a single flower. In a wood beyond 

 Redding.' In Ashmole's copy the initials of J. Watlington are placed against 

 the record, which is repeated in MerretVs Pinax on p. 10. The Nottingham 

 Pink referred to in the following letter is D. deltoides. ' The Pink which 

 grows by the highway sides of the sandy hill yon descend going from 

 Nottingham to Lenton I find to be the same which grows ... in many places 

 in Berkshire.' Letter of Mr. Ray to Dr. Lister, June 29, 1670. The reference 

 in With. Bot. Arr. ed. 2, i. 442, is to the Buckinghamshire locality, but the 

 punctuation is wrong. I possess no other information about the occurrence 



