20 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



an ovoid bud. Stom decumbent at th(3 base, then ascending, simple 

 or ])ranchcd, with 2 (rarely 4) raised hairy lines, otherwise sub- 

 glabrous, excci)t towards the top, where there are scattered curled 

 hairs. Leaves shining, mostly opposite, very shortly stalked, ovate 

 or ovate-lanceolate, rounded at the base, and all below the rounded 

 portion gradually contracted into a short petiole, tapering to and 

 acute or acuminate at the apex, faintly and remotely serrate- 

 denticulate, or callously denticulate. Bracts opposite or alternate, 

 crowded together at the top of the stem. Buds obtuse, apiculate. 

 Flowers few, crowded at the top of the stem, drooping until after 

 expansion. Calyx-segments oblong, obtuse, apiculate. Petals from 

 half as long again, to twice as long as the calyx-segments. Stigma 

 club-shaped. Pods rather long, sub-glabrous. Seeds elongatc- 

 clavate with the testa produced at the top into a small scale-like 

 tubercle on which the coma is placed, attenuate and acute below, 

 very finely roughened with minute points. Plant sub-glabrous. 



In shallow slow-running streams and " well-eyes " in alpine 

 districts, wliere it is not uncommon. In Carmarthenshire, York- 

 shire, Northumberland, the Lake District, and on almost all the 

 hii-h hills in Scotland. 



England, Scotland. Perennial. Summer and Autumn. 



Stems thick, brittle, flexuous, 3 inches to 1 foot long, growing 

 in dense masses like those of Montia fontana var. rivularis, chiefly 

 in the " well-eyes " and half-choked ditch-like sources of Highland 

 *' burns." Stolons somewhat resembling those of E. palustre, but 

 thicker, passing gradually into leafy branches when growing from 

 the stem above the mud. Leaves 1 to 2 inches long, rather thick 

 but flaccid, and having a shining greasy appearance on the surface, 

 broader in proportion to their length than many of the species, 

 except E. montanum, rounded at the base and then attenuated 

 into a very short winged petiole, the edges of which are generally 

 l)ut not always decurrent, as they sometimes meet across the stem, 

 as in E. montanum — but even in this case there is usually a hairy 

 strip running down the stem from the middle of the transverse line. 

 Plowers large for the size of the plant, | inch across, purplish-rose, 

 rarely exceeding 4 or 5 in number and usually fewer. Fruit- 

 pedicels I to 1 inch long. Pods 1^ to 2 inches, with much fewer 

 hairs on them than in any of the i)reccding. Seeds very similar to 

 thos(; of E. palustre, but with the scale-like projection of the testa 

 slightly tapering upwards, instead of suddenly contracted above the 

 seed and then with the sides sub-parallel as in that species. 

 ^ Tire figure in l^ngl. Bot. No. 2000, certainly does not represent 

 E. alsinifolium. It seems to me to be a hroad-leaved form of 



