238 CARYOPHYLLACEiE. Are7mria. 



289, Alsine, Wahlenb. Fl. LajDj). 127, not L. Arenaria, Merkla, & Honckenya, 

 Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 176, 178. Arenaria, Sahulina, Mlnuartia, Tryphane^ Alsi- 

 nanthe, etc., Reichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. v. t. 204-219. Alsine, Arenaria, Mcehringia, 

 Merckia, & Dolophragma, Pax in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. iii. Ab. lb, 

 82-84. — A composite genus, and, when taken as here in its more comprehensive 

 sense, the largest of the Alsinece. Plants of wide distribution both as regards 

 latitude and altitude, and possessing in consequence much variability in aspect ; 

 being rather slender annuals or herbaceous perennials of the habit of Stellaria, or 

 often more densely tufted and occasionally distinctly woody at the base. 



§ 1. Mcehringia, Benth. & Hook. Seeds, at least when young, provided at 

 the hilum with a light-colored spongy appendage (strophiole). Habit of Stellaria. 

 — Gen. i. 150. Mcehringia, L. Phil. Bot. 32 ; Fenzl in Endl. Gen. 968; DC. 

 Prodr. i. 390 ; Gray, Gen. 111. ii. 36, t. 112. 



A. lateriflora, L- Stems terete, weak, often decumbent, puberuleut : leaves elliptic-oblong 

 or oval, obtuse or rounded at the apex, thin, puberulent or at least (under lens) papillose- 

 roughened, 5 to 10 lines long ; the veins and edges beneath covered with a fine spreading 

 pubescence: cymes pedunculate and somewhat umbellately few(l-6)-flowered : sepals ovate, 

 obtuse or scarcely acute, \\ lines long, only one third to one half the length of the obovate 

 petals : filaments pubescent. — Spec. i. 423 ; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 102, t. 36 ; Torr. & Gray, 

 Fl. i. 182, 675. A. Pennsylvanka, Muhl. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. iii. 169. A. huxifolia, Poir. 

 Diet. vi. 362; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. 182. A. Haenkeana, Bartl. in Presl, Rel. Haenk. ii. 15. 

 Stellaria bijiora, Pursh, Fl. i. 317. Mcehringia lateriflora, Fenzl, Verbreit. Alsin. 18, 38, & iu 

 Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 371 ; Gray, 1. c. — New England to New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon, and 

 northward to the Arctic Ocean ; fl. May to August. (Siberia.) Var. glabrescens, Robin- 

 son, u. comb. (Mcehringia lateriflora, yslt. glabrescens, Regel, Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. xxxv. 259), 

 with glabrate or even glabrous leaves, has been collected in Delta Co., Colorado, J. H. Coiven, 

 and on Peel's River near the mouth of the Mackenzie, Miss Taylor. (Siberia.) 

 A. macroph^^Ua, Hook. Stems decumbent, angled, pulveruleut-pubescent : leaves lan- 

 ceolate, acutish to acuminate at both ends (less commonly elliptic, obtusish), 1 to 3 inches in 

 length, glabrous, more or le.ss punctate : peduncles slender, terminal or becoming axillary, 

 1-5 flowered : sepals ovate-lanceolate, very acuminate, exceeding the petals. — Fl. Bor.-Am. 

 i. 102, t. 37 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 182; Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 69; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad, 

 viii. 378 ; Greene, Fl. Francis. 125. Mahringia macrophylla, Torr. Bot. Wilkes Exp. 246. — 

 Extending from San Diego, Orcutt, northward through California, Oregon, and Washington, 

 into Brit. America, and eastward to Isle St. Ignace, Lake Superior, Wheeler; fl. April to 

 August. While the essential floral characters remain the same, there is considerable varia- 

 tion in the size, texture, and shape of the leaves. 



§ 2. Ammodenia, Benth. & Hook. 1. c. 151. Styles 3 to 5 : disk conspicuous, 

 1 0-lobed and glanduliferous : capsule globose, somewhat baccate ; seeds not stro- 

 phiolate. — Ammodenia, Patrin in Gmelin, Fl. Sib. iv. 160. ffonkenya, 'Ehrh. 

 Beitr. ii. 180. Halianthus, Fries, Fl. Hall. 75. Adenarium, Raf. Am. Monthly 

 Mag. ii. 266, & Jour. Phys. Ixxxix. 259. — A single stout fleshy species of mari- 

 time habitat and with axillary flowers. 



A. peploides, L. Perennial, glabrous : stems a span in height, stout, angled ; leaves thit-K, 

 ovate or obovate, 1-nerved, shortly pointed, clasping at the broad base: sepals ovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, 3^ lines iu length, about equalling the petals. — Spec. i. 423; Pursh, 

 Fl. i. 317. Alsine peploides, Crantz, Inst. ii. 406. Honhenya peploides, Ehrh. 1. c. 181 ; 

 Fenzl in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 358; Gray, Gen. 111. ii. 32, t. 110. Adenarium peploides, Raf. 

 11. cc. — Seashores, from New Jersey and Washington State, Henderson, northward ; fl. 

 July to September. (Greenland, N. Eu., Asia.) On the Northwest Coast the commoner 

 form is 



