Sagina.] xvin. CARYOPHYLLE2E. (Edgeworth & Hook, f.) 243 



TRMPERATE and ALPINE HIMALAYA, and WESTERN TIBET, alt. 7-14,000 ft., ascending 

 to 16,000 ft. in Sikkim. DISTKIB. N. and S. Temperate Zones. 



Whole plant 1-6 in., bright green. Leaves glabrous or ciliate, usually mucronate. 

 Flowers globose, green, rarely 5-merous, ^ in. diam., pedicels erect or curved at the tip. 

 Sepals obtuse. Capsule a little longer than the sepals. 



VAR. pentamera ; flowers pentamerous. This may be referable to S. Linncei, Presl. 

 (saxatilis, Wirnmer), but differs in the short petals. 



15. THYXiACOSPERXKUIK, FenzL 



A most densely tufted herb. Leaves minute, most densely imbricate, 

 short, acute ; stipules 0. Flowers solitary, sessile in the tips of the branches. 

 Calyx-tube obconic, 4-5-lobed, lobes suberect. Petals 4-5, small, obovate- 

 spathulate. Stamens 8-10, inserted on the edge of a disk lining the calyx- 

 tube. Ovary 1 -celled ; styles 2-3, filiform ; ovules few. Capsule coriaceous, 

 spherical, 4-6-valved. Seeds few, large, with a soft loose cellular testa. 



1. T. rupifragrum, Schrenk. Periandra caespitosa, Cambess. in Jacq. 

 Voy. Bot. 27 and t. '29 (Flourensia). Bryomorph'a rupifraga, Kar. & Kir. 

 Enum. PL Soong. Arenaria rupicola, Fenzl in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 780. 



ALPINE WESTERN TIBET, alt. 15-18,000 ft., Jacquemont, &c. DISTRIB. Soongaria. 



Forming large hemispheric cushions a foot across and more, quite glabrous. Leaves 

 &~iV hi., suberect, or spreading most densely 5-fariously imbricate, ovate, acuminate, 

 pungent, shining, nerveless, back convex, concave above with thickened margins. 

 Flowers -^ in. diam. Capsules shining, 4- or irregularly 6-valved. Seeds very large, 

 irregularly compressed, almost white; A very singular plant in habit, closely allied to 

 Arenaria densissima, &c. 



16. SFERQULA, Linn. 



Annual or perennial herbs, with forked or fascicled branches. Leaves op- 

 posite, often with leafy buds in their axils, whence the foliage appears to be 

 whorled ; stipules small, scarious. Flowers in peduncled panicled cymes. 

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

 perigynous disk. Ovary 1-celled; styles 3 or 5, ovules many. Cajisule 

 with 3 or 5 entire valves. Seeds compressed, margined or winged. DIS- 

 TRIB. Weeds of cultivated grounds : species 2-3. 



The valves of the capsule are described as opposite to the sepals, but this does not 

 hold good where there are but 3 valves and 5 sepals. 



* Leaves apparently whorled. 



1. S. arvensis, Linn. ; green, leaves in false whorls linear-subulate 

 ^-terete grooved beneath rather fleshy, petals obtuse white, seeds keeled 

 or narrowly winged granulate or papillose. oiss. Fl. Orient, i. 731. 



Cultivated fields in various cool parts of INDIA ; and throughout the Northern hemi- 

 sphere. 



Pubescent or glandular. Stems |-2 ft., branched from the root, geniculate. Leaves 

 -2 in., slender, spreading. Flowers ^-^ in. diam., subumbellate ; pedicels slender, 

 spreading or deflexed. Sepals ovate, obtuse. Petals white. Capsule subglobose, 

 shining. Seeds black. 



2. S. pentandra, Linn. ; glaucous, leaves in false whorls linear-subu- 

 late terete not grooved beneath, petals lanceolate-acute white, seeds piano- 

 compressed smooth, wing often as broad as the striate nucleus. oiss. Fl. 

 Orient, i. 731. Arenaria flaccida, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 447. 



B2 



