~ ARENARIA. CARYOPHYLLACE 4. 87 
ALSINELLA. 
capsule but little longer than the sepals: seeds turgid minutely regose tuber- 
culate. On rocks, Columbia river below the Cascades, 
A. stricta Michx. Fl. i, 274. Diffusely cespitose, glabrous, branching 
from the base: stems 3-15 inches high: leaves subulate-setaceous, 1—-3-nerved, 
many, fascicled in the axils: petals oblong-obovate twice the length of the 
rigid, ovate, very acute 3-ribbed sepals: capsule about as long as the calyx. 
On rocks and sandy ridges, Columbia river below the Cascades: also on the 
Atlantic coast. . 
* * * Closely tufted perennials: sepals acuminate but not strongly 
nerved, except in A. propingua. 
A. propinqua Richardson in Franklin Journ. 738. A verna var. hirta 
Watson Bot. King 41. Closely tufted: stems, peduncles and calyx finely 
glandular-pubescent: leaves nearly or quite smooth: stems tufted, numer- 
ous, slender, ascending or erect, 1-5 inches high, 1-several-flowered; leaves 
linear-subulate, flat, obtuse, 3-nerved, usually erect, not squarrose: pedun- 
cles filiform: sepals ovate-oblong, acutish to acuminate, 175-2 lines long ex- 
ceeding the obovate or oblanceolate petals: capsule surpassing the sepals, 
On the highest mountains, Oregon to Alaska and the Rocky Mountains, 
A. Nuttallii Pax in Engler, Jahresb. xviii. 80. A. pungens Nutt in T. & 
G. Fl. i, 179 (not of Clem.). Pubescent throughout: extensively cespitose 
stems numerous 2-4 inches high. leaves linear-subulate, half to two inches 
long, pungent, crowded: flowers in an open cyme, leafy bracted: sepals 1an- 
ceolate, acuminate, pungent 1-3 lines long 3-nerved: petals about equalling 
the calyx: the capsule shorter: seeds very few, smooth. In mountainous dis- 
tricts, California and Nevada to Oregon and Colorado. 
* * * * Densely cespitose perennials with acicular or subulate 
Jeaves and oblong or linear-oblong, very obtuse sepals. 
+ Petals oblong or narrowly obovate. 
A. Sajanensis Willd. in Schlecht. Berl. Mag. Natf. (1816) 200. Gla- 
brous, or the inflorescence glandular: stems simple, usually 1-flowered: 
leaves linear subulate, obtuse thickish, 3-nerved: petals obtuse, about. half 
longer than the cbhlong sepals. Alpine, Mounts Hood, and Adams to. the 
Rocky Mountains and Alaska. 
+ + Petals broadly obovate, much exceeding the calyx, 
A. aretica Stev.in D.C. Prodr. i. 404. Stems 1-3 inches high, often 
scarcely exceeding the leaves: leaves linear-subulate, obtuse fleshy. nsinutely 
ciliate; peduncles glandular-pubescent 1-rarely 2 or 3 flowered; petals about 
twice longer than the very obtuse 1-nerved ‘senals. Arctic Coast, perhaps 
on our northern border. | 
8 ALSINELLA Dill. 
SAGINA L. Gen. n. 176. 
Low herbs with subulate or filiform leaves without stipules, 
and small terminal usually long-peduncled flowers. Sepals 4—5, 
Petals as many as sepals, entire or slightly emarginate, often 
minute or wanting. Stamens as many as petals, rarely twice as 
many or fewer. Ovary 1-celled, many-ovuled. Styles. as many 
as sepals and alternate with them. Capsule dehiscent to the 
base by as many entire valves as sepals and alternate with them. 
A. occidentalis Greene Fl. Francis. 125. Sagina occidentalis Watson. 
Annual; glabrous or nearly so: diffusely branched from the base: stems very 
slender, 1-6 inches long, decumbent at base or ascending: well developed, 
