492 CARYOPHYLLACEAE 



Kefs. ARENARIA PROPINQUA Eich. ; Franklin, Jour. 738 (1823), type from boreal N. Am. 

 Alsinopsis propinqua Eydb. Bull. Torr. Club, 33: 140 (1906). Arenaria verna L. var. hirta, 

 Wats. Bot. King, 41 (1871). 



14. A. nuttallii Pax. Stems prostrate or ascending, many from the crown 

 of a perennial taproot, more or less matted, giving rise to erect flowering 

 branches which are commonly densely leafy at base; herbage glandular- 

 puberulent ; leaves subulate, rigid, pungent, 3 to 5 lines long ; flowers rather 

 loosely and divergently cymose, on pedicels 3 to 6 lines long ; sepals lanceolate, 

 or oblong-lanceolate, very acute, 2 to 2 1 /i> lines long, equaling or exceeding 

 the petals. 



Northern borders of California: Lassen Peak and Mt. Eddy. North to 

 Oregon and Montana. 



Var. gracilis Rob. Plant more compact and regular; sepals lanceolate- 

 subulate, acuminate or shortly awn-tipped, 2y 2 to 3 lines long, the midnerve 

 on the back very strong; petals oval or oblong-ovate, acute or acuminate, 

 much shorter than the sepals. Decomposed granite, 9000 to 12,000 feet : Sierra 

 Nevada from Yosemite Park south to Farewell Gap; San Bernardino and San 

 Gabriel mountains. Passing into the typical form. 



Locs. Sierra Nevada : Eock Creek, Mt. Whitney, Jepson 5060 ; Siberian Pass, Tulare Co., 

 Hall fy BabcocJc 5479; Little Kern Eiver, Purpus 5253; Mineral King, T. Brandegee; Kaweah 

 Peak, Jepson 4999; Alta Mdws., G. B. Grant 5318; Mt. Silliman, Jepson 753; Mt. Goddard, 

 Hall $ Chandler 620; mountains above Mariposa Big Trees, Bolander 4976; Sonora Pass, 

 Brewer 1879. Southern California: Mt. San Gorgonio (Grayback), W. G. Wright; Mt. San 

 Antonio, McClatchie 182. 



Var. gregaria Jepson n. comb. Flowering stems numerous, 3 to 5 inches 

 high, ending above in a cymose panicle, leafy-imbricated at base and borne on 

 ascending or creeping stems arising from the crown of a taproot ; herbage 

 purplish or green, clammy or softly viscid-pubescent; leaves subulate, 3 to 

 5 lines long, blunt; flowers more or less clustered in a many-flowered panicle, 

 1 to 2 l /2 inches high, the pedicels ^ to 2 (or 3) lines long; sepals often pur- 

 plish, oblong-ovate or -lanceolate, shortly acute or acuminate, 2 to 2% lines 

 long, commonly exceeded by the oblong-lanceolate or narrowly obovate petals. 

 Rocky ridges, high North Coast Ranges, 4000 to 7000 feet. July. This is 

 so unlike var. gracilis that the two have the quality of distinct species. But 

 southern forms of var. gracilis pass into the species, and, as there are forms in- 

 termediate between var. gregaria and the species, these two varieties are thus 

 connected in a continuous series. 



Locs. Snow Mt., T. Brandegee; Mt. Hull, Hall 9530; South Yollo Bolly, Jepson; Lasseck 

 Peak, Goddard 658 ; Devils Backbone, s. w. Siskiyou, Jepson 2065 ; near Preston Peak, w. Siski- 

 you, Jepson 2871; Goosenest foothills, Butler 1638. Hall 8578, Salmon Mts., connects this 

 variety with the species. 



Befs. ARENARIA NUTTALLII Pax in Engler, Bot. Jahrb. 18: 30 (1894). A. pungens Nutt. 

 (not Clem.) ; T. & G. Fl. I* 179 (1838), type loc. n. Eocky Mts., Nuttall. Var. GRACILIS Bob. 

 Proe. Am. Acad. 29: 304 (1894), type spms. from mt. above Mariposa Grove, Bolander, and 

 from Tulare Co., Palmer, Coville $ Funston. Var. GREGARIA Jepson. A. gregaria Heller, Bull. 

 S. Cal. Acad. 2: 67 (1903), type loc. Mt. Sanhedrin, Heller 5892. Alsinopsis gregaria Heller, 

 Muhl. 8: 96 (1912). 



5. SPERGULARIA J. & C. Presl. SAND SPURREY. 



Low herbs, usually of alkaline plains, borders of salt marshes, or maritime. 

 Leaves linear or subulate-filiform, semi-terete, with scarious stipules. Flowers 

 cymose or racemose, the pedicels at length spreading or deflexed. Sepals 5. 

 Petals 5, purplish or white, entire. Stamens commonly 10. Style 3, rarely 5. 

 Capsule 3-valved. Seeds often wing-margined. Embryo annular. Species 

 about 15, widely distributed on seashores and in saline localities all over the 

 earth. (Derivative of Spergula.) 



