Victorian Plants. 291 



1323. Somewhat woody. 



Alpine plant, widely prostrate; leaves thick, very small, 

 blunt, from narrow- to ovate-elliptical, shining ; flowers 

 solitary ; corolla of staminate flowers with elongated 

 tube, that of the pistillate flowers with abbreviated tube ; 

 stamens particularly long-exserted ; fruit ovate-globular, 

 outside red. C. pnmila. 



Quite herbaceous ... ... 1324 



1324. Calyx almost lobeless. 



Glabrous, forming dense very depressed patches ; leaves 

 minute, thin, from ovate- to cordate-orbicular ; flowers 

 solitary ; corolla very short, pale, four-lobed ; stamens 

 and pistils well developed in most flowers, but the 

 filaments often abbreviated in the fruit-forming flowers ; 

 fruit very small, almost globular, red or bright-yellow 

 outside. C. Nertera. 



Calyx conspicuously two-lobed. 



Quite dw.arf, somewhat creeping and tufted ; leaves very 

 small, on short stalks, thin, ovate, slightly pointed, often 

 beset with short scattered and rather rigid hairlets ; 

 flowers solitary ; corolla elongated ; fruit nearly ovate, 

 almost dry. C. reptans. 



ASFERULA. 



1325. Leaves simply opposite. 



Stems and branches rather elongated, lax ; leaves never 

 whorled, always linear ; flowers minute, well stalked ; 

 calyx lobeless ; corolla whitish, four-lobed, that of the 

 main staminate flowers with a conspicuous tube, that of 

 the main pistillate flowers tubeless ; fruit minute, con- 

 sisting of two oblique-ovate turgid finally seceding 

 fruitlets. Figure 75. A. gemiiiifolia. 



Leaves from four to eight in each whorl. 



Dwarf, erect or diffuse ; leaves small, from linear to oval ; 

 flowers minute, terminally crowded, but never numerous ; 

 calyx lobeless ; corolla whitish, four-lobed, that of the 

 main staminate flowers with a conspicuous tube, that of 

 the main pistillate flowers tubeless ; fruit minute, slightly 

 two-lobed. (A. conferta.) A. oligantha. 



