486 CARYOPHYLLACEAE 



loose terminal or axillary cymes on spreading peduncles; peduncles 1 to 2 

 inches long; pedicels 4 to 10 lines long; sepals l 1 /^ to 2 lines long, the petals 

 twice as long, broadly notched at apex; capsule ovate, shorter than the, calyx. 



Meadows or pine forest, 5000 to 8500 feet : Sierra Nevada south to Frazier 

 Mt. ; North Coast Ranges. East to the Rocky Mts. and north to Washington. 



Locs. Frazier Mt., Ventura Co., Hall 6606; Sand Mdw., South Fork Kaweah River, Jepson 

 4687; Hossack Creek, e. Tulare Co., Hall 8347; Round Mdw., Giant Forest, Jepson 681; Pine 

 Ridge, Fresno Co., Hall # Chandler 62; Alder Creek, Yosemite Park, Jepson (count of stamens 

 in four flowers, 5, 6, 6, 10); Morgan, Tehama Co., Hall $ Babcock 4335; Plumas Co., Plait; 

 Susanville, T. Brandegee; Modoc Co., M. S. Baker; Moffitt Creek, Siskiyou Co., Butler 966. 



Refs. STELLARIA JAMESIANA Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 2: 169 (1828), type loc. Rocky Mts. 

 S. jamesii Torr. Pac. R. Rp. 4: 69 (1857). Alsine jamesiana Heller, Cat. ed. 2, 4 (1900). 

 A. glutinosa Heller, Bull. S. Cal. Acad. 2: 67 (1903), type loe. Summit Lake, Mt. Sanhedrin, 

 Heller 5880. 



3. SAGINA L. PEARLWORT. 



Diminutive herbs with subulate or filiform leaves. Leaves of the opposite 

 pairs scarious-connate at base. Flowers minute, terminal, often long-pediceled. 

 Sepals 5 or 4, obtuse. Petals white, much shorter than the sepals, rarely sub- 

 equal, mostly minute, entire or slightly emarginate, or sometimes none. Sta- 

 mens 5 or 10. Styles as many as the sepals and alternate with them. Capsule 

 dehiscent to the base by entire valves. Species about 20, all continents. (Latin 

 sagina, fattening, some species abundant in sheep-grazed country.) 



Filiform annuals; pedicels straight; low altitudes. 



Sepals and petals 5; connate bases of leaves glabrous 1. S. occidentalis. 



Sepals 4; petals commonly none; connate bases of leaves ciliolate 2. S. apetala. 



More' or less succulent, wholly glabrous ; biennial or perennial. 



Petals mostly % length of sepals ; pedicels curved at summit ; high altitudes 



3. S. linnaei. 



Petals and sepals subequal ; pedicels rarely curved at summit ; seashore 



4. S. crassicaulis. 



1. S. occidentalis Wats. WESTERN PEARLWORT. Inconspicuous annual with 

 almost capillary stems, branching at the base, erect or spreading, 2 to 5 inches 

 high; slightly hispidulous-glandular on the calyx and upper portion of pedi- 

 cel, otherwise glabrous ; upper leaves broadly subulate, acute, 2 to 3 lines long, 

 the lower filiform-linear, 3 to 6 lines long; pedicels 3 to 6 lines long; sepals 

 and petals 5 ; sepals % line long, the petals nearly as long ; calyx rounded at 

 the base; stamens 3 to 10; capsule l 1 ^ lines in length. 



Not uncommon, but obscure and mostly in low ground or borders of salt 

 marshes : Coast Ranges and Great Valley, south to coastal Southern Cali- 

 fornia, north to Siskiyou Co. Far north to British Columbia. Apr.-May. 



Loes. Eureka, Tracy 2181; Comptche, Harriet Walker 304; Ukiah, Bolander 3891 (part of 

 *yP e ) > Vacaville, Jepson 1205a; Montezuma Hills, Jepson; Oakville, Napa Valley, Jepson; 

 Stege, Tracy 610; Berkeley, Jepson; Santa Inez Mts., Brewer 339 (part of type); Pasadena 

 McClatchie. 



Refs. SAGINA OCCIDENTALIS Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 10: 344 (1875), type spms. from 

 "Oregon to San Francisco"; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 169 (1901); Parish, Zoe, 4: 162 

 (1893). Alsinella occidentalis Greene, Fl. Fr. 125 (1891). The distinctness of this species 

 and S. crassicaulis has been questioned (Piper, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 11: 259), but altho 

 Sagina is a genus of poorly defined species these two are widely unlike and in respect to each 

 other stand most securely. 



2. S. apetala Ard. var. barbata Fenzl. Tiny annual, erect, 1 to 2 inches 

 high, usually minutely glandular-pubescent; leaves linear-subulate, acute, 1^ 

 to 3 lines long, the connate scarious bases more or less ciliolate ; pedicels capil- 

 lary, erect ; calyx 4-parted ; petals commonly none, or 4, minute and obovate ; 

 capsule ovoid, l 1 /^ times as long as the calyx. 



About ranches or near dwellings, therefore probably introduced. Seldom 

 collected but perhaps overlooked. 



