ON ALSINE PALLIDA. 203 
fertilization is perfected in the closed calyx. The deciduous character 
of the persistent fruit-calyx is found in all the allied plants, but does 
not invariably take place ; indeed, Du Mortier gives “ fructus cum calyce 
articulato-deciduus " as a character of his genus Ælsine, in which he 
places (1) 4. pallida, Dum., (2) A. media, Linn., (3) 4. neglecta, 
Lej.,=S. neglecta, Weihe, (4) 4. latifolia, Dum.,— S. latifolia, Pers., 
(5) A. nemorum, Dum.,— S. nemorum, Linn. Stellaria latifolia and 
S. nemorum are now believed to form one species, and I fully concur 
with those botanists who combine the remaining three (1, 2, and 3) 
to form the species Stellaria media, Vill. 
Du Mortier gives the following character for his 4. pallida : —A. 
“ caulibus filiformibus humifusis, foliis ovatis acutis, floribus apetalis, 
pedunculis fructiferis rectis. Annua, 3-5. In cultis humidis solo 
arenoso." [ts synonymy is— 
Alsine pallida, Dum. Fl. Belg. Prod. 109 (1827); Piré in Bull. 
Soc. Bot. Belg. ii. 43. 
 Stellaria Boreana, Jord. Pug. 33 (1852) ; Bor. Fl. du Centre de 
la France, ed. 3. 104. ; 
S. apetala, Bor. ** Not. et Fl. du Cent. ed. 2. 87," nec Ucria in 
Rem. Archiv, i. 67. 
Willkomm remarks (Ic. et Desc. Pl. Eur. Aust. Occid. i. 89) that 
S. Boreana does not differ from the apetalous state of S. media, which 
is found in Germany: “in utraque stirpe caulis unifariam villosus, 
petioli ciliati, pedunculi et sepala hirsuta, folia punctata, capsula se- 
minaque eadem configuratione et cet." Nor can I find any permanent 
distinctive character. 
The appearance of 4. pallida is well marked, and renders it un- 
likely to escape the notice of a critical field-botanist. A number of the 
seeds germinate in near proximity, and produce a dense mass of plants 
which spread from that centre in a circle; an appearance well repre- 
sented in M. Piré’s plate (Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. 1. c.), but which was 
unintelligible to me until I had seen the plant growing abundantly in 
Norfolk. Its pale colour also cannot fail to attract notice. 
This plant is probably a native of many parts of the country ; it in- 
habits a damp sandy soil. It flowers in the months of April and May, 
and has usually (always ?) shed its seed and withered before the end of 
the latter month. If the plants did not grow in society, they might 
easily escape notice, for individually they would be very inconspieuous, 
