Arenaria. CARYOPHYLLACE^. 243 



§ 5. Alsine, Benth. & Hook. Capsule ovoid, 3-valved ; valves entire; seeds 

 not strophiolate : matted perennials or delicate annuals, usually with narrow 

 linear subulate or acerose leaves. — Gen. i. 150. Alsine, Wahleub. Fl. Lapp, 127 ; 

 Fenzl in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 341 ; Pax in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenf. iii. 

 Ab. lb, 82. 



* Palustriue perennial with weak elongated stems, narrow linear or lauce-linear leaves and 

 axillary long-peduncled flowers. 



A. paludicola, Robinson. Glabrous, flaccid : stems several, subsimple, procumbent, root- 

 ing at the lower joints, sulcate, shining, leafy throughout: leaves uniform, flat, 1-nerved, 

 acute, spreading, 9 lines to 1 g inches long, 1 to 3 lines in breadth, often punctate, somewhat 

 connate, slightly scabrous upon the margins : peduncles solitary in the axils, 1 to 2 inches 

 long, spreading or somewhat deflexed: sepals nerveless, not at all indurated, acutish, about 

 half the length of the obovate petals. — Proc. Am. Acad. xxix. 298. A. palusfris, Wats. 

 Bot. Calif, i. 70, & Bibl. Index, 97 ; Greene, Fl. Francis. 124 ; K. Brandegee, Zoe, ii. 341 ; 

 not Gay. Alsine pahistris, Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. iii. 61. — Abundant in swamps, 

 California, about Fort Point near San Francisco, Bolander, KeUagg & Harford ; San 

 Bernardino, Parish Bros. ; Washington, near Tacoma, Flett, according to Piper ; fl. May to 

 August. 



* * Terrestrial annuals of the Atlantic Slope and Alleghany Mts., rarely extending to the 

 interior in the Southern States, essentially glabrous : sepals obtuse, soft in texture, scarcely 

 or not at all nerved. 



A. Groenlandica, Spreng. Somewhat fleshy : root at first simple, later of many delicate 

 fibres : stems few to many, decumbent or erect, subsimple, 2 to 8 inches long, bearing 1 to 

 5 flowers : leaves linear, obtuse, 1 1 to 7 lines long, at first in a dense more or less rosulate 

 cluster at the base ; the cauline 2 to 4 pairs : sepals broadly ovate, 1^ to 2 lines in length : 

 petals obovate, about twice as long, entire or notched : capsule subglobose to oblong, more 

 or less contracted to a point. — Syst. ii. 402 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 180 ; Torr. Fl. N. Y. i. 9.5, 

 t. 15; Robinson, Proc. Am. Acad. xxix. 298, 328. A. glabra, Torr. Fl. N. & Midd. States, 

 455; Bigel. Fl. Bost. ed. 2, 180; not Michx. Alsine Grainlandica, Gray, Man. ed. 2, 58. 

 Slellaria Grcenlandica, Retz. Fl. Scand. ed. 2, 107; Fl. Dan. t. 1210. ? 5. Labradorica, 

 Schrank, Pfl. Lab. 24; Meyer, PI. Lab. 93. — Rocky soil, chiefly but not always at higher 

 altitudes, Greenland to the mountains of Maine, and even reaching the coast at Bath, Gam- 

 bel, and Bar Harbor, Rand; also found at Middletown, Conn., Osborn, Wright; locally 

 abundant in the White, Green, Adirondack, Catskill, and Shawanguuk Mts. ; also found on 

 the Kittatinny Mts. of N. W. New Jersey, Britton ; in the mountains of Pennsylvania (ace. 

 to Porter) ; of S Virginia, Small & Heller ; and in N. Carolina, Small, where it had passed 

 as a form of A. c/lubra, Michx., having been previously collected on Roan Mt. by Gray & 

 Caret/, Sinith, and Scribner ; fl. June to September. The autumnal flowers are usually 

 smaller than the earlier ones. 



A. glabra, Michx. Glabrous, loosely matted, many-stemmed : stems weak, slender, sub- 

 erect, very leafy, 6 to 12 inches high : leaves narrowly linear, spreading, thin, nerveless, equal- 

 ling or exceeding the internodes : peduncles filiform, elongated, spreading, 1-flowered : corolla 

 rather broad, considerably exceeding the calyx: sepals ovate-oblong, obtuse, nerveless, 1| 

 lines in length, somewhat exceeded by the ovoid capsule. — Fl. i. 274 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 

 180, in part. Alsine glabra, Gray, Man. ed. 2, 58 ; Chapm. Fl. 49. — On rocks in mountains 

 of N. Carolina, il//c/iaM.r, Table Mountain, Graij ; S. Carolina, Table Rock, Vase// ; Georgia, 

 Stone Mt., Grai/, De Kalb Co., Small; also apparently the same in the Arroyo of Lamben, 

 near the Mexican boundary, Parry. 



A. brevifolia, Nutt. Glabrous : stems erect, filiform, 2 to 5 inches high, with spreading 

 branches : leaves linear or lance-linear, olttuse, nerveless, slightly flesliy, 1 to 4 lines long, 

 commonly much shorter than the internodes: sepals ovate-oblong, obtuse, only a line in 

 lengtli, with a distinct tliin white margin: petals rather consjjicuous, obovate, 2\ to SI lines 

 in length, widely spreading: capsule ovoid, acumiu.ite, a third longer than the calyx ; valves 

 ovate, acuminately narrowed almost to the tip. —Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 180. Alsine 



