152 ALSINEJE. (CHICKWEED FAJMELY.) 



calyx ; capsule ovate, somewhat longer than calyx — April and May — 

 Fields ; Aleppo to Judea and Moab. 



Var. ' Sinaica, Boiss. Quleiqalah. Leaves long-mucronate. Flow- 

 ers smaller. Margin of sepals narrower. Petals once and a half as 

 long as calyx — Sinai. 



15. A. forino§a, Fenzl. © .05 to .15, glandular ; stem erect, 

 dichotomous, leafy. Cymes long-peduncled, dichotomous, difiuse ; 

 pedicels much longer than calyx, capillary, spreading, straight ; bracts 

 half scarious ; sepals ovate-lanceolate, cusjndate, scarious-margined ; 

 petals pink, obovate-cuneate, once and a half as long as calyx — Spring 

 — 'Akkar. Nusairy Mountains, 



_ 4. QfJERIA, L. QuERiA. 



Sepals 4. Petals 0. Staminoids 5, linear, short, opposite the 

 sepals, rarely 0. Stamens 10. Styles 3. Ovary 1-ovuled. Capsule 

 3-valved to middle. Seeds reniform-globular, somewhat flattened 

 laterally, not arillate — Dwarf annuals, with densely capitate flowers. 



Q. Hispanic^a, Loefl. .05 to .15, crisp-puberulent. Cymes 

 capitate, bracteate, short-peduncled, corymbose ; flowers sessile, the 

 one at the fork fertile, the lateral sterile, reduced to two bract-like 

 sepals ; fertile flowers with uaequal, 3-nerved sepals, the outer pair and 

 the bracts hooked at apex — Spring and Summer — Lebanon and Anti- 

 lebanon to Aleppo, Aintab and northward. 



5. AREIVARIA, L. Sandwort. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, entire or refuse. Stamens 10, inserted on a 

 perigynous, glandular disk. Styles 3 (rarely 2-5). Ovary many-ovuled. 

 Capsule with 6 entire or 3 two-toothed valves. Seeds not arillate, 

 kidney-shaped, or laterally compressed — Annual or perennial herbs, 

 sometimes shrubby at base. 



* Perennials, 



1. A. drypidea, Boiss. 5 '^7 glabrous, glaucescent ; sterile 

 leafy hraneJies 0. Leaves .015 long, linear, Jlat, acute, not prichly^ 

 scabrous-margined. Panicle terminal, thyrsoid ; bracts triangular, 

 subulate ; pedicels several times as long as calyx ; sepals hooded, ovate, 

 green turning blackish, scarious-margined ; petals twice as long as 

 calyx — August — Akherdagh. 



2. A. Ledebouriana, Fenzl. 5 -^^ glabrous, woody below ; 

 stems corymbose above. Leaves of short, sterile hranclies crowded, of 

 fertile remote, all awl-shaped, triquetrous, mucronate-pricMy. Pedicels 

 glabrous, longer than calyx ; sepals ovate-oblong, acute, with yellow- 

 ish margin and green back, keeled, mucronate ; petals twice as long as 

 calyx — Summer — Mountains of northern border of Syria. 



3. A. acerosa, Boiss. 11 .1 to .15, shrubby at base ; stems 

 prostrate ; branches ascending. Leaves of short, sterile branches 

 crowded, pennicilliform, of fertile remote, all .005 to .01 long, rigid, 

 triquetrous, slender, awl-shaped, mucronate. Cymes 5-9-flowered ; 

 pedicels glutinous, shorter than ovate, keeled, acuminate, pricUy-point- 



