CLOVE PINK TRIBE 123 



12. Sandwort {Arendrhi). 

 * Leaves without stipules. 



1. Three-nerved Sandwort {A. trin&via). —Leaven sessile, egg-shaped, 

 acute, the lower ones stalked, 3 — 5-nerved, fringed ; flowers solitary, from 

 the forks of the stem and axils ; sepals 3-nerved, the central nerve rouo-h. 

 Plant annual. This is a little plant of shady woods and moist places, 

 having much-branched downy stems, about a foot in height, and its upper 

 leaves being without stalks. Anyone little used to plants would mistake it 

 for the common chickweed, but its white petals are not cleft like those of that 

 flower. The blossoms are small, appearing in May and June. The Sand- 

 worts are a difficult tribe of plants to the unpractised botanist, but if this 

 species is examined when in seed, it may be seen by a common lens, siich as 

 is used by naturalists, to possess a peculiar character, in having a little 

 appendage to the scar of the seed. This plant delights in damp hedge-banks. 



2. Thyme-leaved Sandwort (J. serpyUifdlia). — Leaves broadly egg- 

 shaped, pointed, somewhat rough, sessile ; calyx hairy, about as long as the 

 corolla; stem repeatedly forked. Plant annual. This, like many of the 

 Sandworts, is a native of the driest places, flourishing on open sandy banks, 

 the tops of walls, and the sea-cliff's. Mr. Johns remarks, that when growing 

 near the shore, the stems become less branched, and the leaves somewhat 

 larger and more decidedly fringed than in its ordinary state. It flowers from 

 June to August, but its white blossoms are small, and its shrubby stems and 

 foliage rarely exceed five or six inches in height. A slender straggling form 

 is known as A. leptodculos. 



3. Vernal Sandwort {A. v^rna). — Stems numerous, panicled; leaves 

 awl-shaped, 3-nerved when dry ; petals somewhat longer than the narrow- 

 pointed 3-nerved sepals. Plant perennial. This Sandwort is found on 

 fragments of quartz, on the mountains in the north of England and Wales, 

 at the Lizard Point, Cornwall, as well as about Edinburgh, and on some 

 Scottish mountains. It is very pretty ; its white flowers, which appear in 

 May and June, being large for the size of the plant. The stems are slightly 

 hairy, and three or four inches high. The plant grows in tufts among the 

 grass, or on the almost bare rock. 



4. Alpine Sandwort {A. rulMa.) — Stems numerous ; flower-stalks 

 downy, terminal, and usually bearing but one flower ; leaves slender and awl- 

 shaped, 3-nerved, blunt ; petals shorter than the 3-nerved calyx. This rare 

 plant, which is nearly allied to the last species, seems to be almost peculiar 

 to the summits of the Breadalbane range of mountains in the Highlands of 

 Scotland. 



This lowly alpine flower has also been found on Ben Hope, in Sutherland, 

 flowering in July and August. Sir William Hooker and Dr. Arnott remark 

 of it : " This is quite an alpine or arctic plant ; it loves to grow with its root 

 buried under a loose piece of rock, and late in the summer often acquires a 

 reddish tinge." 



5. Bog Sandwort {A. uligindsa). — Stems prostrate at the base, with 

 from one to three flowers, on long slender stalks ; leaves awl-shaped, without 

 nerves, and somewhat blunt; petals about as long as the calyx. Plant 



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