250 CARYOPHYLLACEiE. Spergularia. 



narrowly linear often fleshy leaves. — Fl. Cech. 94; Gray, Gen. 111. ii. 27, t. 

 108 ; Benth. & Hook. Gen. i. 152. Arenaria, L. Gen. no. 374, in part. Are- 

 naria § Spergularia, Pers. Syn. i. 504. Gorion, Mitchell, Act. Phys. Med. Acad. 

 Nat. Cur. viii. App. 208 ; N. E. Brown, Eng. Bot. ed. 3, Suppl. 47. Tissa, 

 Adans. Earn. ii. 507; Baillon, Hist. PI. ix. 116; Britton, Bull. Torr. Club, xvi. 

 125 ; Greene, Fl. Francis. 126, & Man. Bay-Reg. 35. Buda, Adans. 1. c. ; 

 Dumort. Fl. Belg. 110; Wats. & Coulter in Gray, Man. ed. 6, 89. Lepigonum, 

 Fries, Fl. Hall. 76 ; Kindberg, Mouogr. ; Leffler, (Est. Bot. Zeitschr. xix. 101- 

 106; Wats. Bibl. Index, 103. — A genus of moderate size but difficult, through 

 the natural variability of the commoner species, the inconstancy of characters 

 (such as the form of the seeds) which elsewhere are most trustworthy, and finally 

 through an unfortunate complication in the synonymy, arising both from the 

 most diverse views as to the number and proper limitation of the species and 

 from the differences in the choice of the generic name. The designation here 

 adopted is the one which has been most widely used, is now employed by most 

 English and Continental authors (except the Scandinavians), and has had the recent 

 indorsement of the botanists of the Royal and Imperial Gardens of Kew and Berlin. 

 In limiting the species, the usually practical criterion of non-confluence would 

 lead, if rigidly enforced in this group, to a general reduction of the commoner 

 forms to one polymorphous species of widely diverse varieties. Greater clear- 

 ness can certainly be attained by retaining as species a moderate number of 

 oft-recurring and usually distinguishable types, notwithstanding the frequent 

 occurrence of intermediates or local intergradation. 



S. MiQUELONENSis, Lebel (Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xv. 58; Arenaria Miqiielonensis, La 

 Pylaie, ibid.), never properly described, is obscure. It may well be S. salina or perhaps S. 

 horealis. 



* Procumbent or decumbent, slender, scarcely or not at all fleshy : flowers of medium size : 

 petals rose-lilac : stipules lanceolate, elongated, conspicuous and silvery. 



S. rubra, J. & C. Presl, 1. c. Smoothish below but finely and often copiously glandular- 

 pubescent above : stems spreading, wiry : leaves flat or slightly grooved on both surfaces, 

 narrowly linear, cuspidate, 4 to 6 lines long, a third line broad : stipules attenuate, 2 to 3 

 lines long : inflorescence racemiform ; pedicels truly filiform, exceeding the foliaceous 

 bracts and about twice as long as the oblong-lanceolate scarious-margined acutish glandular- 

 pubescent sepals: corolla 1^ lines in diameter, scarcely equalling the calyx : capsule of the 

 same length as the sepals ; seeds pear-shaped, and minutely crested but not winged. — Gray, 

 Gen. 111. ii. 28, t. 108, & Man. ed. 1, 64, excl. var. S. rubra, var. campestris, Gray, Man. ed. 5, 

 95. S. cavipestris, Aschers. Fl. Prov. Brandenb. 94. Arenaria rubra, L. Spec. i. 423, excl. 

 var. )8; Bigel. Fl. Bost. 108; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 98. Lepigonum rubrum, Wahlb. Fl. 

 Gothob. 45 (excl. var. perennans). Buda rubra, Dumort. Fl. Belg. 110. Spergula rubra, 

 Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 175, excl. vars. Tissa rubia, Britton, Bull. Torr. Club, xvi. 127, as to 

 eastern plant. — An attractive species, growing about paths and in dry sandy soil, occasionally 

 on sea-beaches, Newfoundland to Virginia and Ohio, common on or near the coast, but less 

 frequent in the interior. (Eu.) Perhaps not indigenous. 



Var. perennans, Robinson, n. comb. More fleshy and forming large mats : root stout, 

 biennial or perennial : internodes shorter : leaves shorter and broader, 3 to 4 lines in length, 

 half line in breadth : inflorescence denser. — Tissa rubra, var. perennans, Greene, Pittonia, 

 ii. 229. ? Lepigonum rubrum, var. perennans, Kindb. 1. c. 40. — Common on the Pacific Slope 

 from Washington, Suksdorf, and Idaho, il/i'ss Mulford, to Central California. (N. Eu. ?) 

 There appear to be no technical differences of flower or fruit between this variety and the 

 Atlantic form, yet the two can in general be readily distinguished by their foliage. The 



