PECAND. DIGYN. 133 



(lamfcra and S. pentadactylis. Whole plant rigid. Stems reddish, 

 glabrous. Leaves slightly pubescent and viscid. Panicle much 

 branched, subfastigiute. Flowers rather small. Petals linear obovate, 

 thrice as long as the cal. teeth. Germen inferior, oblongo.-ovate 5 and 

 the teeth of the calyx, are longer than in any of this division. In 

 E. Boi. Sir James Smith gives Ehrhart the merit of distinguishing 

 this species from the S.geranoides of Linn. 3 but afterwards, in Rees's 

 Cyclopedia, he inclines to think it a var. of that plant with more di- 

 vided leaves. This may be the case - } but without seeing intermediate 

 states it would hardly be suspected : for each division of the leaves 

 of the geran. is broadly wedge-shaped, and of a much thinner tex- 

 ture. The panicle, however, the flowers, calyx, and germen, are 

 precisely of the same structure. I should have thought it the same 

 with the S. ladanifera of La Peyrouse, but that that is described as 

 being covered with little points from which an odoriferous gum 

 exudes. 5. pentadactylis has the segments of the leaves extremely 

 narrow indeed and obtuse. Another species very closely allied 

 to our plant is the S. ceratophylla of Hort. Kew. and But. Mag. 

 t. 1651 , of which I possess specimens through the liberality of Mr. 

 Aiton himself. It is distinguished by a still more rigid habit, by the 

 divisions of the lobes being bent back like a sickle, and by the calyx 

 being covered with a resinous but not clammy varnish; and is a 

 native of Spain , as geranddes, ladanifera, and pentadactylis are of the 

 Pyrenees. May they not all be vars. of geranoides? 



8. SCLERANTHUS. 



1 . S. annuus (annual Knaiuel), fe cal. of the fruit spreading 

 acute, stems patent 3 ' (Sm.). Lightf. p. 225. . B. /. 351. 



HAB. Corn-fields, frequent. JF/. July. Q. 



IStcms many, much branched in a dichotomous manner, slender, sub- 

 pubescent, straggling. Leaves linear subulate, keeled, membranous 

 at the base. Flowers green, inconspicuous, in axillary leafy clusters. 

 Ca/.urceolate, ribbed, with 5 ovato-lanceolate teeth, white and mem- 

 branaceous at the edge, spreading when in flower, and erect when, 

 in fruit It will be thus seen that the above specific char., taken from 

 Smith, does .not accord with my specimens, the fructified cal. of 

 \\ hich is exactly as represented in E. E. #.351, left hand fig. 



2. S. perennis (perennial Knatvfl), " cal. of the fruit closed ob- 

 tuse, stems procumbent" (Sm.). Lightf. p. 1134 ? (S. poly- 

 carpo*). E.B.t. 352. 



HAB. Sandy and gravelly places. Broomholm, near Langholm, in Esk- 

 dale ? Lightf. Gravelly banks near Forfar, rare, D. Don. Fl. Oct., 

 Nov. 11 . (Sm.) 



In my specimens of this plant the root is stouter than the last, and 

 may be perennial j the stems are shorter, more procumbent, the 

 leaves closer ; tlwjiowers denser. But there is no difference in the 

 cal. or fruit, or in any other part of the plant. Surely they cannot 

 be distinct. I should say that 5. perennis owed all its characters 

 to flowering late in the season, or having, under favourable circum- 

 stances, survived a winter. 



