232 CRASSULACE.E. 



2. S. marina (Seaside Sandwort Spurrey). Leaves 

 semi-cylindrical without points ; stipules chaffy ; stems 

 prostrate; seeds smooth, flattened, bordered. On the 

 sea-shore ; common. Stouter and larger than the last, 

 but nevertheless so nearly resembling it, that it is 

 doubtful whether both may not belong to the same 

 species, varied, however, by soil and situation. Fl. 

 June August. Annual. 



6. SP^RGULA (Spurrey). 



1. S. arvensis (Corn Spurrey). Leaves cylindrical, in 

 whorls, with minute chaffy stipules at the base ; flowers 

 panicled, bent down when in fruit. A common weed in 

 gravelly corn-fields, 6 12 inches high, flowers white. 

 " Cattle are fond of this plant, and it is an object of 

 culture in Holland." Sir W. J. Hooker. Fl. all the 

 summer. Annual. 



ORD. XXXV. CEASSULAGE^E. THE STONECROP 

 TRIBE. 



Sepals 3 20, more or less united at the base \ petals 

 equal to the sepals in number, inserted in the bottom of 

 the calyx ; stamens the same, or twice as many, in which 

 latter case, those opposite the petals are shorter than the 

 others ; ovaries as many as petals, 1 -celled, tapering into 

 stigmas, often with a gland at the base of each ; fruit 

 consisting of several erect seed-vessels, which open length- 

 wise ; seeds in a double row. Herbs or shrubs, remark- 

 able for their thick, fleshy leases, and starlike flowers, 

 inhabiting most parts of the world, especially the south 

 of Africa, and growing in the driest situations, where 

 not a blade of grass nor a particle of moss can live ; on 

 naked rocks, old walls, or sandy, hot plains, alternately 

 exposed to the heaviest dews of night, and the fiercest 

 rays of the noonday sun, having the power of laying 

 in during the rainy season a large store of moisture, 



