CLASS X. OBDER 111.] MOEHRINGIA. 639 



Hoot small, branched. Stems numerous, procumbent at the base, 

 and much branched, round, hairy, leafy, three or four inches high, 

 slender, forming dense green tufts. Leaves opposite, ovate lanceolate, 

 or acute, tapering at the base into a short footstalk, single ribbed, 

 somewhat fleshy, roughish, and ciliated on the margin, especially 

 towards the base, pale green. Flowers either solitary and terminal, or 

 a few forming a panicle, rather large, the calyx segments lanceolate, 

 acute, with a pale narrow membranous margin, the mid -rib stout, with 

 several slender lateral veins. Petals pure white, ovate, tapering into 

 a short claw, half as long again as the calyx. Stamens with slender 

 filamentSy and yellow ovate anthers^ of two cells. Capsule orate, 

 shorter than the calyx. 



Habitat. — Very rare in Ireland; on Limestone Cliffs at Sea Fin, 

 and Ben Bulben, County of Sligo. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



This plant is found plentifully on the mountains of France, Switzer- 

 land, and Italy, where it varies in size, and the panicle in the number 

 of its flowers, but does not exceed seven or eight, mostly from one 

 to two. 



3. " ^. Norve'gicaj Gunn^ Norwegian Sandwort. Leaves spathu- 

 late, fleshy, glabrous, as well as the much branched procumbent 

 stems ; branchlets one to three flowered ; calyx leaves half as long as 

 the corolla, ovate, acute, with three to five obscure ribs." 



"Fl. Dau. t. 1269.— Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 182, ed. 4.— 

 A. ciliata^ var. /3. Willd." 



" A plant with altogether the mode of growth and general aspect of 

 A. ciliataj but the leaves are succulent, and everywhere glabrous, and 

 the calyx leaves are broader, and obscurely ribbed." 



Habitat. — " Unst, in the Shetland Islands, first discovered by Mr. 

 Thomas Edmonstone, jun., an enthusiastic naturalist, only eleven 

 years of age, and ascertained to be new to Britain, by Dr. M'Nab, on 

 his visit to those islands, in 1837." 



Perennial ; flowering in July. 



Native specimens of this species we have not seen. The descrip- 

 tion is from the fourth edition of Hooker's British Flora, but we fear 

 the plant is too nearly allied to A. ciliata to constitute a good species. 



GENUS XV. MOE'HRINGIA.— Linn. Moehringia. 



Nat. Ord. Caryophyl'j:.e^. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Calyx of four or five pieces. Petals four or five entire, 

 or slightly notched. Stamens eight or ten. Styles two or three. 

 Capsule four or six valved. Seeds numerous, with an arilliform 



