248 CARYOPHYLLACEiE. Saglna. 



with filiform stems and subulate or filiform leaves. — Syst. Nat. ed. 1, & Gen. no. 

 336; DC. Prodr. i. 389 ; Reichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. v. t. 200, 201; Gray, Gen. 

 111. ii. 29, t. 109. — About a dozen species (chiefiy of the temperate and frigid 

 parts of the northern hemisphere) in much need of a general revision, the iden- 

 tity and distinctness of several Old World species being so doubtful that it is 

 impossible to correlate with them the common forms of America. 



* Very slender, 2 to 5 inches high : the almost capillary stems several to many, subsimple 

 from near the base, usually several-flowered ; the lowest flowers distinctly axillary : leaves 

 nearly filiform but flattened above, not proliferous in the upper axils nor forming sterile 

 rosettes ; the basal rosette seldom persisting : flowers small, 4-5-parted. 



S. apetala, Ard. Commonly glandular-pubescent : stems not numerous, ascending or 

 nearly erect; leaves IJ to 3 or 4 lines in length, scarcely flat: pedicels straight: flowers 

 normally 4-parted : petals minute and obovate or more often altogether wanting. — Animad. 

 Alt. 22, t. 8; L. Mant. ii. 559 ; Fenzl in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 338; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 177; 

 Reichenb. 1. c. t. 200. S. procumbens, vslt., Benth. Brit. Fl. 120. — Middle Atlantic States 

 near the coast and doubtfully indigenous ; Amherst, Mass., Jesup, to E. Pennsylvania, Porter, 

 New Jersey, C. E. Smith, and formerly near Washington, D.C. (ace. to Ward). A form 

 with elongated capillary stems is abundant in grassy situations near Hewitt's, Bergen Co., 

 N. J., Britton ; also at Berkeley, Calif., Blankinshlp. Specimens from Labrador, coll. Allen, 

 referred to 5. apetala, are probably only a stunted form of S. procumhens. Var. bardAta, 

 Fenzl (in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 338), with leaves distinctly ciliated at the base, has been found 

 (probably introduced) at Auburn, California, Mrs. ^mes. Alsinella ciliata, Greene, from 

 near lone, Calif., which is ambiguously characterized in the Fl. Francis. 126, as a very 

 slender and diffuse plant of compact habit, does not differ in its described characters from 

 this. (Eu., Asia, &c.) 



S. decumbens, Torr. & Gray. Annual, quite smooth or with the younger parts slightly 

 glandular: stems several, decumbent or sub-erect, 2 to 5 mches high, subsimple: the filiform 

 straight peduncles exceeding the narrowly linear very acute leaves : flowers normally 5- 

 parted: calyx appressed even in fruit, obtusish but not rounded at the base, two thirds the 

 length of the valves of the capsule : petals (sometimes only 1 to 3 and rudimentary) scarcely 

 equalling the sepals: stamens 3 to 10. — Fl. i. 177. 5. procumbens, Pursh, Fl. i. 119. 

 5. Elliottii, Fenzl in Gray, Man. ed. 2, 61. 5. subulata, Torr. «Ss Gray, 1. c. 178, not Wimm. 

 ■? Spergula nodosa, Walt. Car. 142. S. saginoides, Michx. Fl. i. 276, not L. S. decumbens, 

 Ell. Sk. i. 523, /S. subulata. Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 93. — Dry sandy ground. New England 

 to Great Plains of Brit. America, Macoun, southward to Florida and Texas ; fl. March to 

 June. Var. SMfTini, Watson (Bibl. Index, 105; Wats. & Coulter in Gray, Man. ed. 6, 89; 

 <S. subulata, var. Smithii, Gray, Man. ed. 5, 95), is a more slender nearly or quite apetalous 

 form, found in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, C. E. Smith, Camden, Parker, Richmond 

 Co., N. Y. (ace. to Hollick & Britton), S. E. Kentucky (ace. to Kearney), and probably else- 

 where with and poorly distinguished from the type. 



S. OCCidentalis, Watson. Annual, glabrous, with habit and foliage of the preceding 

 species, but with longer pedicels (usually 7 to 10 or 12 lines in length) and larger also 

 5-parted flowers : capsule If lines in length : calyx rounded at the base. — Proc. Am. Acad, 

 x. 344. S. procumbens, Poland. Cat. 6 ; and perhaps Torr. Bot. Wilkes Exped. 242. /S. Lin- 

 ncei, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 378. Alsinella occidentalis, Greene, Fl. Francis. 125. — Low 

 grounds and salt marshes of the coast, Vancouver Isl. to S. California; common; fl. spring. 

 The western equivalent of S. decumbens and possibly intergrading with that species. 



* * Flowering stems of lateral origin, spreading, 1 to 6 inches in length, procumbent; the 

 un prolonged terminal axis bearing, close to the ground, a more or less persistent tuft or 

 rosette of leaves : flowers normally 4-parted. 



S. procumbens, L. Matted: the numerous procumbent leafy stems IJ to 4 inches in 

 length : leaves smooth or ciliate, narrowly linear, obtusish and mncronate : pedicels filiform, 

 elongated, nodding at the summit during authesis : petals considerably sliorter than the 

 sepals; the latter spreading in fruit. —Spec. i. 128; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 177. — Moist rocks, 



