PINK FAMILY 495 



Eefs. SPERGULARIA TENUIS Rob. Proc. Am. Acad. 29: 311 (1894). Lepigonum tenue 

 Greene, Pitt. 1: 63 (1887), type loc. Alameda salt marshes, Greene, May, 1887. Tissa tennis 

 Greene in Britt. Bull. Torr. Club, 16: 128 (1889). T. salina var. tennis Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. 

 Cal. 170 (1901). Spergularia salina var. tennis Jepson, 1. c. ed. 2, 156 (1911). 



As this seems to pass into S. salina we have hitherto held it as a variety of that species. 

 While it has a somewhat distinctive habit it is still too little known ajid is here reluctantly given 

 specific rank. The var. involncrata Rob. in Gray, Syn. Fl. I 1 : 251 (1897), type loc. Mt. Eden, 

 K. Brandegee, is a form with the flowers in somewhat capitate clusters subtended- by long 

 foliaceous bracts. 



6. S. platensis Fenzl. Annual; stems numerous, nearly filiform, branch- 

 ing, l!/2 to 3y 2 inches high; herbage glabrous; leaves linear-filiform, 3 to 8 

 lines long, mostly shorter than the internodes; upper leaves much reduced, 

 not exceeding the scarious stipules; flowers in terminal cymes, the branches 

 somewhat racemose ; pedicels 1 to 2 lines long ; flowers x /2 to 1 line long ; petals 

 1 to 3 and minute, or lacking; capsule somewhat exceeding the sepals. 



Dried ponds, Southern California. East to Texas. Brazil. 



Locs. Between Eivera and Florence on the adobe mesa, Abrams 3252; Carrizo Creek,. 

 T. Brandegee. 



Refs. SPERGULARIA PLATENSIS Fenzl, Ann. Wien. Mus. 2: 272 (1839). Balardia platensis 

 Cambess. in St. Hil. Fl. Bras. Merid. 2: 180, t. Ill (1829), type loc. s. Brazil. Lepigonum 

 gracile Wats. Proe. Am. Acad. 17: 367 (1882), type spms. from Dallas, Tex., J. Eeverchon, 

 and Wilmington and Compton, Cal., Nevin. Tissa gracilis Britt. Bull. Torr. Club, 16: 128 

 (1889). 



6. SPERGULA L. SPURREY. 



Annual. Leaves narrowly linear or subterete, apparently in whorls, but 

 really opposite, several others of their own size being crowded in the axils;- 

 stipules small and scarious. Flowers symmetrical. Sepals 5. Petals 5, white, 

 entire. Stamens 10, occasionally 5. Styles 5, alternate with the sepals. Cap- 

 sule 5-valved, the valves entire, opposite the sepals. Embryo spirally annular. 

 Species 2 or 3, in both hemispheres. (Latin spargere, to scatter, in reference 

 to the dispersion of the seeds.) 



1. S. arvensis L. CORN SPURREY. Diffusely branching from the base, the 

 stems 1 to 2 feet long; pubescence of short spreading glandular hairs; leaves 

 slightly fleshy, % to l 1 ^ inches long, numerous in rather remote whorls ; flowers 

 white, 4 lines broad, in a cymose panicle with strongly divergent branches 

 turned abruptly downward after flowering ; petals ovate, exceeding the sepals. 



Fields and orchards near the coast, rarely in the interior. Apr. Introduced 

 European weed. Readily eaten by cattle and said to increase the flow of milk. 

 Flowers opening only of afternoon. 



Locs. San Diego, T. Brandegee in 1901; Pasadena (Erythea, 1: 102); Monterey, Jepson 

 2996 in 1908; Berkeley, Jepson in 1886; Mt. Diablo, Brewer in 1862; Olema, Jepson 4038 in 

 1910; Eureka, Tracy 2983 in 1909; lone, Braunton in 1904. 



Refs. SPERGULA A.RVENSIS L. Sp. PI. 440 (1753), type European; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 

 170 (1901). 



7. POLYCARPON L. 



Low much-branched annuals with numerous flat leaves, small scarious stip- 

 ules and very small flowers in cymes. Sepals 5, more or less carinate, scarious- 

 margined. Petals 5, hyaline, shorter than the sepals. Stamens 3 to 5. Style 

 1, very short, 3-cleft or the stigma 3-lobed. Capsule 3-valved. Seeds several. 

 Embryo little curved. Species about 6, temperate and tropic regions. (Greek 

 polus, many, and karpos, fruit, in reference to the numerous pods.) 



Leaves in 4s or opposite ; inflorescence leafless 1. P- tetraphyllum. 



Leaves opposite; inflorescence more or less leafy 2. P. depressum. 



1. P. tetraphyllum L. Stems diffuse or prostrate, 2 to 5 inches long ; herb- 

 age glabrous or nearly so ; leaves in 4s or opposite, oblong or obovate, short- 



