SAGINA.] CARYOPHYLLEJE. 61 



9. SAGI'NA, L. PEARL-WORT. 



Very small, tufted, annual or perennial herb's. Leaves subulate, connate 

 at the base. Flowers small, pedicelled. Sepals 4-5. Petals 4-5, entire, 

 sometimes minute or 0. Stamens 4, 5, 8, or 10. Ovary 1 -celled ; styles 

 4-5, opposite the sepals ; ovules many. Capsule 4-5-valved to the base. 

 DISTRIB. Temp, and cold N. and S. hemispheres; species 8. ETYM. 

 doubtful. 



* Flowers 4- rarely 5-merous. Petals minute. 



1. S. apet'ala, L. ; annual, primary and lateral branches all flowering, 

 the latter ascending, radical leaves sub-rosulate, petals minute or 0. 

 Dry banks, wall tops, &c. ; fl. May-Aug. A slender, almost filiform, wiry 



herb, 4-10 in. Leaves A-| in., spreading. Flowers ft in. diam., green, 

 , pedicels capillary. DISTRIB. Europe, N. Africa, W. Asia ; doubtfully indi- 



genous in the U. States. 

 Sub-sp. APET'ALA proper ; branches ascending sparingly glandular-pubescent, 



leaves ciliate at the base mucronate, pedicels erect, sepals at length spread- 



ing obtuse exceeding the capsule. From Perth and Forfar southwards, rare 



in Scotland. 

 Sub-sp. CILIA'TA, Fries (sp.) ; decumbent, glandular-pubescent, leaves ciliate 



mucronate, sepals always appressed to the capsule 2 outer mucronate. 



Rather rare. 

 Sub-sp. MARIT'IMA, Don (sp.) ; decumbent or ascending, glabrous, leaves obtuse 



or apiculate, sepals suberect in fruit broad obtuse. VAR. 1, maritfima proper ; 



ascending, slender, internodes long, capsule about equal to the sepals. Sandy 

 . VAR. 2, deb' His, Jord. (sp.); decumbent, slender, internodes 



long, capsule a little shorter than the sepals. VAR. 3, den'sa, Jord. (sp.) ; 

 ascending, slender, internodes short, capsule as in VAR. 2. Cheshunt and 

 Wisbech. VAR. 4, alpi'na, Syme ; ascending, stoutish, internodes short, 

 capsule shorter than the sepals. Top of Ben Nevis, Don. 



2. S. procum'bens, L. ; perennial, stems many, primary shoot flower- 

 less, lateral slender with fascicled branchlets usually procumbent and 

 rooting, sepals spreading in fruit, petals very small. 



Waste places, paths, banks, &c. ; ascends to 3,800 ft. in the Highlands ; 



fl. May^Sept. Branches 1-8 in. Leaves glabrous or ciliate, obtuse, mucro- 



nate, longer than in S. apetala. Flowers usually solitary, sometimes 5-merous. 



Styles recurved during flowering. Capsule a little longer than the sepals, 



pedicels erect or curved at the tip. DISTRIB. Europe (Arctic), N. Africa, 



Siberia, W. Asia to the Himalaya, Greenland, N. America, Fuegia. 



** Flowers 5, rarely 4-merous. Petals half as long as the sepals or longer. 



(Perennial, with a leafy Jlowerless central stem, many lateral flowering 



branches, minute subulate leaves, and slender erect \-flowered pedicels. SPER- 



GELLA, Reich.) 



3. S. saxat'ilis, Wimmer ; stems numerous prostrate and rooting, 

 leaves mucronate, petals longer than the glabrous obtuse sepals, pedicels 

 curved erect in fruit, capsule 5-valved almost twice as long as the usually 

 appressed sepals. S. Linncei, Presl ; Spergula saginoides, SHI. 



Scotch alps north of the Forth and Clyde ; aecending to 2,700 ft. ; fl. June- 

 Aug. Distinguishable from the 5-merous forms of S. proctimbens only 

 by the longer white petals, erect styles and usually longer capsules with 



