CARYOPHYLLACE^. 103 



Stems spreading or prostrate, branching, leafy. Leaves ellip- 

 tical, oblong, the upper ones ovate, short. Sepals 4, pointed, 

 two of them narrow, with a broad inembranous margin. Petals 

 4, cleft halfway to the base. Capsule reflexed, with eight linear 

 teeth. 



Seacoasts in Scotland and the north of England. Is it found 

 at Yarmouth ? 



Sub-Tribe 3. MJLACHIEM— Petals 5 -cleft. Capsule ovate, 5 -an- 

 gled ; valves deeply toothed. 



Malachium, Fr. — Aquatic plants, with weak, straggling stems 

 and rather large white flowers. Sepals 5, ovate, acute, hairy. 

 Petals 5, deeply parted. Stamens 10. Styles 5, alternate with 

 the sepals. Capsules ovate, opening with 5 bidentate (2-toothed) 

 valves which are opposite to the sepals. 



M. aquaticum, Fries. Water Mouse-ear Chickweed. — e.b. 

 538. L.B.s. 191. 



A. 10. C. 40. Lat. 50-55°. Alt. 0-100 yds. Tern. 51-47°. 



Stems prostrate or somewhat climbing [this plant has the 

 habit of Cucuhalus], branching and brittle, bright green, hairy, 

 viscid. Leaves cordate-ovate, acuminate, undulate, petiolate; 

 the uppei* ones sessile. Pedicels spreading horizontally, bent 

 downwards after flowering. Sepals blunt. Petals much longer 

 than the sepals, parted to the base and with diverging lobes. 

 Capsule slightly longer than the calyx. 



In watery places and about the margins of ditches. Per. ; 

 July. 



Tribe III. SPERGULEjE. — Leaves stipulate. Valves equal in num- 

 ber to the styles. 



Spergula, lAn. — Annual weeds, with linear, fascicled leaves 

 (apparently whorled). Sepals 5. Petals 5, obtuse. Stamens 

 5-10. Capsule 5-valved, valves opposite to the sepals, multi- 

 ovular (with many ovules) on a central column. Styles 5. 

 Seeds roundish, winged with a turgid fanicle (medium of at- 

 tachment to the placenta) . 



S. arvensis, Lin. Common Spurry. — e.b. 1535. l.b.s. 172. 

 A. 18. C. 82. Lat. 50-61°. Alt. 0-450 yds. Tern. 53-42°. 



Stems spreading or erect, knotted (turgid at the junctions), 

 simple or branched at the apex. Leaves fascicled (whorled), 

 spreading, fleshy, filiform, with a groove on the under side. Sti- 



