Sagina^ xvii. caryophyllaceje (oliver). 143 



Upper Guinea. Fernando Po, 8500 ft., and Catnarooas mouutain, 9000-11,000 ft. 

 Mann ! ' '* 



Nile Ijand. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 

 Peculiar to tropical Africa. 



8. SPERGULARIA, Pers. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 152. 



Sepals 5, free. Petals 5, entire, rarely fewer or 0. Stamens 10 or fewer. 

 Ovary 1-celled, multiovulate ; styles 3. Capsule dehiscing in 3 valves. 

 Seeds subglobose, connpressed or winged.— Low, spreading or forking herbs, 

 with narrow, subulate or setaceous leaves aud scarious stipules. Flowera 

 pedicellate, white or rose, in racemose cymes. 



A small genus, affecting the shores and saline deserts of temperate regions. 



1. S. rubra, Pers. Syn. PL i. 504. var. A decumbent or ascending, 

 much-branched annual or biennial herb, attaining 3-6 in. in height, more or 

 less glandular-pubescent above, at least on the pedicels and calyx. Leaves 

 very narrow-linear, rather fleshy, often with tufted secondary leaves in their 

 axils ; stipules minute, scarious. Flowers white or pink, in forked or race- 

 mose cymes ; pedicels reflexed or spreading after flowering. Sepals oblong 

 or lanceolate, rather obtuse, exceeding the petals. Capsule slightly exceed- 

 ing or equalling the calyx. Seeds compressed (not winged in the specimens 

 which I have seen, which agree, as noted by Planchon, with those of the 

 S. sahuginea, Bunge, figured in Ledebour's Atlas with yellowish flowers, by 

 mistake) . 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 



Dr. Aschersoii distinguishes four species in Abyssinia, descriptions of which I have not seen. 



Spergularia rubra has a wide distribution in both hemispheres. 



\_Spergula arvensis, Linn. A slender annual, i-2 ft. in height, with apparently verticil- 

 late, narrow-linear or subulate leaves, 1-2 in. long, aud terminal di-trichotoraous cymes of 

 small white flowers, with the pedicels usually deflexed in fruit, is widely spread as a weed of 

 cultivation. Dr. Welwitsch collected it amongst Flax in Angola, aud Dr. Schimper abun- 

 dantly amongst corn in Abyssinia.] 



9. DRYMARIA, Willd. ; Benth. et Hook, f Gen. PI. i. 152. 



Sepals 5, free. Petals 5, divided. Stamens 5 or fewer by abortion, 

 slightly perigynous or inserted in a short annular disk. Ovary 1-celled, 

 2-oo-ovulate. Styles 3, connate below. Capsule 3-valved. — Dift'use forking 

 herbs. Leaves plane, with minute stipules. Flowers small, cymose. 



Principally an American genus, of which the following species has the widest distribution. 



1. D. cordata, JVilld. ; DC. Prod. i. 395. A weak spreading herb, 

 glabrous or nearly so, often extending 2 or 3 ft. Leaves broadly ovate, sub- 

 cordate or nearly orbicular, mucronulate, 3-ncrved, shortly petiolate, \-\ in. 

 long. Flowers small, in terminal or axillary, few-flowered, often loose, 

 cymose panicles on slender glabrous or minutely glandular peduncles. Petals 

 2- fid, shorter than the sepals. 



Upper Guinea. Camaroons mountain, 7000 ft., and Fernando Po, 1000 ft., Mann ! 



laower Guinea. Golungo Alto, Angola, Dr. Welwitsch ! 



The only African localities known to me for this weed, widely dispersed through the 

 tropics of both Asia and the New World. It is hkely to occur iu Abyssinia 



