240 CARYOPHYLLACE^. Arenaria. 



sepals ovate-obloDg, obtuse, nerved, Ij to IJ lines long: petals of similar shape and equal 

 length: stamens 8 to 10: valves of the capsule rather deeply bifid, exceeding the calyx. — 

 Spec. i. 425; DC. Prodr. i. 411 ; Fenzl in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 370. (High mountains and 

 arctic regions of Europe.) 



Var. (^) humifusa, Hornem. Leaves v^^ithout ciliation : sepals nerveless. — Hornem. 

 in Lange, PI. Green. 132. A. Norvegica, Gunn. Fl. Norv. ii. 145, t. 9, f. 7-9. A. humifusa, 

 Wahlenb. Fl. Lapp. 129. — Rich soil, Brit. America, Mt. Albert, Gaspe', Allen, Porter; Lake 

 Mistassini, /. AI. Macoun, and what is with scarcely a doubt the same thing at Kicking 

 Horse Lake in the Rocky Mts., J. Macoun. (Greenland, N. Eu.) 



A. alsinoides, Willd. Minutely pubescent with slightly hooked hairs or smoothish : 

 stems long, procumbent, moderately branched : leaves narrowly elliptic, acute, narrowed 

 below, commonly pseudoverticillate, 8 to 10 lines long, punctate : flowers axillary, solitary 

 at the nodes : pedicels filiform, elongated, spreading or horizontal, nearly or quite an inch in 

 length: sepals ovate, acute, tuberculate-punctate, If lines long: petals commonly smaller or 

 wanting : seeds smooth and shining. — Willd. in Schlecht. Berl. Gesell. Nat. Fr. Mag. vii 

 (1816), 201; Wats. Proc Am. Acad. xvii. 327. A. diffusa. Ell. Sk. i. 519. A. nemorosa, 

 HBK. Nov. Gen. & Spec. vi. 35. A. kmuginosa, Rohrb. in Mart. Fl. Bras. xiv. pt. 2, 274, t. 63. 

 Spergulastrum lanuginosum, Michx. Fl. i. 275. lPolycarpo7i unijlorum, Walt. Car. 83. Micro- 

 pelalon lanuginosum, Pers. Syn. i. 509. Stellaria elongata, Nutt. Gen. i. 289. S. lanuginosa, 

 Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 187, 675. — Moist shaded ground. North Carolina to Florida and Texas, 

 Drummond, Hall. (Mex., S. Amer.) A more western form, represented from New Mexico 

 by Fendler's 58 and 62 and Wright's 864, has slightly firmer stems, more numerous sub- 

 ])aniculate flowers, and leaves less narrowed at the base. In all these respects it shows a 

 transition to the following. 



A. saxosa, Gkay. Finely puberulent, green or glaucescent: stems many, spreading from 

 a rather stout root, decumbent or creeping at the base, 2 inches to a foot long : leaves 

 numerous, opposite, not fascicled or pseudoverticillate (sometimes crowded), slightly fleshy, 

 lance-oblong, acute, mucronate, 2 to 9 lines long, sessile by a scarcely narrowed base : flowers 

 terminal and subsolitary on short simple peduncles or in stouter individuals numerous and 

 more or less paniculate : petals almost or quite equalling the ovate-lanceolate sharply acumi- 

 nate slightly fleshy sepals. — PI. Wright, ii. 18; Walp Ann. iv. 258. Mcehringia umhrosa. 

 Gray, PI. Fendl. 13, & PI. Wright, ii. 18, not Fenzl. — Colorado, Brandegee, Hooker & Grai/ ; 

 Guadalupe Mts., Texas, //ararc?; 'New Mexico, Fendler, Wright, Wooton ; Arizona, Rofhrock, 

 Levimon, Jones, Rusbij. (Lower Calif., Orcutt.) A species of wide range, occurring alike 

 in rocky subalpine regions and much lower upon sandy banks, accordingly varying much in 

 height and diffuseness of branching. The type is a condensed few-flowered form. 



Var. cinerascens, Robinson. Somewhat more rigid, grayish throughout with a 

 fine pubescence : leaves pungent. — Proc. Am. Acad. xxix. 293. — Huachuca Mts., Arizona, 

 Lemmon. 



* * Leaves very narrowly linear, commonly acerose, often rigid and pungent : western 



species. 

 ■y— Sepals broadly ovate, mostly very obtuse or at least obtusish : flowers not densely 



aggregated. 



A. capillaris, Poir. Leaves chiefly grouped at the base in fascicles upon a multicipital 

 caudex, 6 lines to 2\ inches long, somewhat pungent, little spreading ; the cauline few pairs, 

 nnich reduced: stems 4 to 8 inches in height: petals obovate, considerably exceeding the 

 short obtuse sepals. — Diet. vi. 380 ; Regel, 1. c. 247. Alsine nardi folia, Anderson, Cat. 118. 

 The typical glabrous form with straight leaves is comparatively rare in America, but occa- 

 sionally occurs with var. nardifolia, Regel, 1. c. 253, which is glabrous with curved leaves 

 (A. nardifolia, Ledeb. Fl. Alt. ii. 166, & Ic. t. 6; Hook. Fl. Bor -Am. i. 98, t. 32), and the 

 more common form, var. Formosa, Regel, 1. c. 252, which has the stem and inflorescence 

 glandular {A.formosa, Fischer in DC. Prodr. i. 402; Hook. f. Arc. PI. 287, 322; Torr. 

 Bot. Wilkes Exp. 243). — Central California to Ltali, Montana, and Brit. Columbia. (Asia.) 

 Var. ursina, Robinson, n. comb. Caudex more densely multicipital and bearing 

 closer fascicles or rosettes of very short filiform-linear tliickisli glaucous glandular-ciliolate 

 white punctate apiculate leaves (only 2 to 3 lines in length): sepals nerveless, little exceeded 



