CAETOPHYLLACEiE. 127 



surrounded by a sharp keel, Avliich is frequently whitish on the 

 exterior margin. Plant sparingly clothed with gland-tipped 

 hairs, especially on the upper part of the stem, peduncles, and 

 sepals. 



Var. a, sativa. 



Plate CCLII. 



Spergula sativa (Boningh.), in Reich. PI. Crit. Cent. VI. No. 704. 

 S. arvensis, Linn. Eeich. Fl. Germ. Excurs. p. 567. Boreau, Fl. du Centre de la Fr. 

 ed. iii. Vol. II. p. 102. 



Stamens 10. Seeds without papillae.* 



. Var. 3, vulgaris. 



Plate CCLIII. 



Spergula viilgaris [BOningh.), in Reich. Pl. Crit. Cent. VI. No. 705. 



S. vulgaris, Boningh. Reich. Fl. Germ. Excurs. p. 567. Boreau, Fl. du Centre de la 



Fr. ed. iii. Vol. II. p. 103. 

 S. pentandra, Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 1536 (non Linn.). 



Stamens commonly fewer than 10, and very frequently only 5. 

 Seeds with small pale clavate deciduous papillse. 



In cultivated fields, especially on a light soil. Common, and 

 generally distributed. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual. Summer 

 and Autumn. 



Stems geniculate, ascending, 3 to 15 inches high, generally 

 dividing into several close to the crown of the root, the divisions 

 slightly dichotomously branched. Leaves rather distant, somewhat 

 fleshy, ^ to \\ inch long, appearing to be in whorls from the two 

 opposite axillary fascicles meeting round the stem. Stipules small, 

 membranous. Cymes terminal, with the ultimate branches forming 

 false racemes from the abortion of the branches on one side, with 

 pairs of small triangular sub-membranous bracts at the base of the 

 forks and pedicels. Sepals ovate, obtuse, very indistinctly nerved, 

 and surrounded by a very narrow membranous border. Petals a 

 little longer than the sepals. Stamens variable in number, from 

 4 to 10. Pruit pedicels slender, -^ to 1 inch long, spreading or 

 reflexed. Capsule longer than the calyx, subglobular-conical. 

 Seeds closely covered with tubercles, puckered at the base, and 

 surrounded by a narrow keel, which is smooth and generally pale 

 at the margin when the seed is mature. 



In var. /3 the seeds have small papillae looking like gland- tipped 



* The seeds of varieties a and (i have been inadvertently transposed in the two 

 plates. 



