Arenaria.] xvm. CARYOPHYLE^:. (Edgeworth & Hook, f.) 239 



pedicels short pubescent with several pairs of ovate pungent bracts, sepals 

 orbicular-oblong palmately veined rather shorter than the orbicular-ovate 

 petals. Fenzl in Ann. Mus. Wien. i. 60, t. 7. Cherleria grandiflora, Don 

 Prodr. 214. 



Alpine region of the NIPAL HIMALAYA, at Gosain-than, Wallich. 



Forming small compact hemispherical tufts ; roots long, fusiform. Stems 1-2 in. 

 Leaves 3 in., rigid, base ciliate. Flowers % in. diam., peduncle about as long, with 

 2-3 pairs of concave bracts. Calyx rounded at the base ; sepals membranous, mar- 

 gins very thin, erose. Patois retuse. Filaments very rigid, subulate, cohering into an 

 annular disk at the base. Ovary spherical ; styles 2-3, short. Capsule much shorter 

 than the sepals, membranous, 6-valved. Don describes the flowers as rose-coloured, 

 which we cannot affirm, and the stigmas as capitate, which is not the case, nor do we 

 find the capsule to be 3-celled, as Don says it is. 



13. A. densissima, Wall. Cat 640 ; densely tufted, stems clothed with 

 the imbricating leaf-bases, leaves recurved subulate-lanceolate from a narrow- 

 base pungent concave nerveless keeled below, margin quite smooth, flowers 

 axillary solitary shortly pedicelled, bracts elliptic concave mucronate, sepals 

 ovate half as long as the very narrow petals. Fenzl in MILS. Wien. i. 60, t. 7. 

 Cherleria juniperina, Don Prodr. 214. 



Alpine ? region of the NIPAL HIMALAYA, Gosain-than, Wallich. 



Forming large compact tufts ; roots long, woody. Stems crowded, 3-^4 in., densely 

 leafy, rigid, fragile. Leaves -^ in., almost deflexed, shining. Flowers very suiall. 

 Sepals subacute, ^ in. long. Pttals linear-spathulate. Capsule globose. 



SECT. IV. Euthalia. Lax or tufted, usually perennial. Leaves ovate 

 or oblong, broad, never subulate. Flowers cyrnose or solitary. Disk usually 

 conspicuous. Capsule 6-valved. Seeds numerous, rarely few. 



* Cymes few- or many- rarely l-jlowered. 



14. A. serpyllifolia, Linn.; annual, stem pubescent all round exces- 

 sively branched, branches decumbent or suberect, leaves subsessile ovate 

 acuminate 1-3-nerved ciliate, cymes many-flowered, bracts leafy, sepals 3-5- 

 ribbed pubescent. Boiss. Fl. Orient, i. 701 ; Wall. Cat. 637. A. Wallichiana, 

 JSeringe in Wall. Cat. 638. 



SUBTROPICAL and TEMPERATE HIMALAYA, from Nipal to Kashmir; ROHILKUND and 

 the PANJAB, alt. 1-11,000 ft.; WESTERN TIBET, alt. 11-13,000 ft., T. Thomson. 

 DISTRIB. Afghanistan, Temp. Europe and Asia. 



Branching trom the root, many-flowered ; branches 2-10 in., slender, dichotomously 

 branched, leafy, hairs often recurved. Leaves 4-^ in., rather rigid. Flowers ^-\ in. 

 diam. ; pedicels slender, strict, erect in flower, erect or spreading in fruit. Sepals ovate- 

 lanceolate much exceeding the petals. Capsule 6-valved, ovoid, about as long as the 

 sepals. Seeds tubercled. 



15. A. neelg-errensis, Wight & Am. Prodr. 43 ; annual, stem pubes- 

 cent on one side much branched, branches decumbent, leaves subsessile 

 elliptic or obovate obtuse or mucronulate 1 -nerved ciliate, cymes few- or 

 many-flowered, bracts leafy, sepals ovate acute 1 -nerved, nerve pubescent. 



NORTH- WEST HIMALAYA, alt. 5-10,000 ft., from Jamu to Kashmir, Jacquemont, &c. 

 NILGHIRI MTS., Wight, &c. 



Very similar to A. serpyllifolia, but of laxer habit, leaves more elliptic often petio- 

 late sometimes obovate, branches chiefly hairy on one side, sepals usually broader and 

 seeds less tubercled, but these characters are far from satisfactory. Wight and Arnott 

 describe the petals as lunger than the sepals, which is not a constant character, and the 

 "styles as varying from 2-4. 



