68 PIXK FAMILY. 



A. dififusa, SPREADING S. Shady grounds S. Plant soft-downy ; stems 

 prostrate, 1 or more long; leaves lanceolate; peduncles lateral, 1 -flowered ; 

 petals shorter than the sepals or none. 2/ 



* * Petals conspicuous, longer than the calyx, irltite. 1 



A. laterifidra, SIDE-FLOWERING S. Gravelly shores and banks N. 

 Plant minutely downy ; stem erect, 3' - 10' high, sparingly branching ; pedun- 

 cles few-flowered, soon becoming lateral by- the farther growth of the leafy stem ; 

 leaves oval or oblong. 



A. Stricta. Rocky or shady banks N. Tufted, smooth, 4' -6' high ; stems 

 crowded with slender almost bristle-form leaves ; Howers several in a terminal 

 open cyme; sepals sharp-pointed. 



A. squarr6sa, PIXE-HAKKKN S. In sand, coast of New Jersey and S. 

 Densely tufted on a deep root, 3' -5' high; leaves much crowded, short, awl- 

 shaped, smooth ; the flowering branches or few-flowered peduncles glandular ; 

 sepals obtuse. 



A. GrGBnlandica, MOUNTAIN S. On rocky summits of mountains and 

 N. E. coast. Densely tufted, soft; leaves thread-form ; flowering stems 2' - 4' 

 high, lew-flowered, the flowers large in proportion ; petals notched at the end. 



A. peploides, SEA SAXDWORT, in sands of sea-shore N., is large, with 

 very fleshy ovate leaves, and axillary flowers. 



11. SPERGULARIA, SAND SPURREY. (Name from likeness to 

 X/>;'i-t/n!(i.) A sort of Sandworts with scaly-mem l>ranaceous stipules, and 

 reddish flowers, produced all summer : chiefly maritime. <jj 2/ ? 



S. rilbra. The field form of this is common in sand or gravel, along roads 

 and paths, E., quite away from salt water ; smoothish, prostrate in tufts ; leaves 

 thread-shaped ; pod and pink-red corolla hardly exceeding the calyx ; seeds 

 rough, wingless, half-ohovate. 



S. salina. Larger and more fleshy, only in brackish sands ; with short 

 peduncles, pale corolla, pod longer than the calyx, and rough obovate-rounded 

 (winged or wingless) seeds. 



S. media. Like the last, in salt marshes and sands, but with longer pedun- 

 cles and smooth seeds. 



12. SPERGTJLA, SPURREY. (Latin spargere, to scatter, i. e. its seeds.) 

 S. arvensis, COKX S. Stems 1 or so high ; bearing several thread. 



shaped leaves in the whorls, and terminating in a panicle of white flowers. 

 A weed in grain-fields, cult, in Europe as a forage plant, sheep being fond of it : 

 fl. summer, (i) 



13. ANYCHIA FORKED CHICKWEED. (Name of obscure mean- 

 ing.) (i) 



A. dichotortxa, a common little herb ; in shady places it is smooth and 

 erect, 6' -10' high, with repeatedly forking long-jointed very slender stems, 

 minute short-stalked greenish flowers in the forks, and oval or oblong leaves : in 

 dry or parched soil it is spreading on the ground, short-jointed, narrower-leaved, 

 often pubescent, the flowers more clustered and nearly sessile : all summer; 



14. SCLERANTHUS, KNAWEL. (From Greek words meaning hard 

 and Jiotcer, referring to the indurated tube of the calyx.) 



S. annuus, our only species, is nat. from En. in gravelly grounds, around 

 gardens, &c., a verv pale little herb, 3' 5' high, very much branched and 

 spreading, with short awl-shaped leaves, and greenish small flowers clustered or 

 sessile in the forks, in late summer and autumn. 



15. MOLLU GO, CARPET -WEED. (An old Latin name for some soft 



plant.) (T) 



M. verticillata. A very common, small, prostrate and spreading little 

 weed, in waste gravelly soil, gardens, &c., with spatulate leaves and 1-flowered 

 pedicels in clusters or whorls at the joints ; the sepals white inside ; stamens 3 ; 

 fl. all summer. 



