GENUS 8. 



CHICKWEED FAMILY. 



59 



i. Spergula arvensis L. 



Spurry. Poverty- weed. Corn Spurry. Pine-cheat. 

 Fig. 1794. 



Spergula arvensis L. Sp. PL 440. 1753. 



Slender, glabrous or sparingly pubescent, branch- 

 ing at or near the base, erect or ascending, 6'-i8' 

 high. Leaves narrowly linear or subulate, i'-2' 

 long, clustered at the nodes in two opposite sets of 

 6-8 together, appearing verticillate ; stipules small, 

 connate ; flowers 2"-$" broad, numerous in loose 

 terminal cymes ; pedicels slender, divaricate ; sepals 

 ovate, i "-2" long, slightly longer than the petals; 

 stamens 10 or 5 in flowers on the same plant; cap- 

 sule ovoid, longer than the calyx; seeds papillose. 



In fields and waste places, frequent as a weed through- 

 out eastern Canada and the Eastern and Middle States, 

 south to South Carolina, west to California. Adventive 

 or naturalized from Europe. Sandweed. Pick-purse. 

 Yarn Cow-quake. Summer. 



Spergula sativa Boenn, which differs in being viscid, 

 and with dotted but not papillose seeds, has been col- 

 lected in New England and in Ontario. Native of 

 Europe. 



9. TISSA Aclans. Fam. PI. 2: 507. 1763. 

 [BuDA Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 507. 1763.] 

 [SPERGULARIA Pers. Syn. i : 504. 1805.] 



Low annual or perennial herbs, mostly with fleshy linear or setaceous leaves, often with 

 others clustered in the axils, and small pink or whitish flowers in terminal racemose bracted 

 or leafy cymes. Stipules scarious. Sepals 5. Petals the same number, rarely fewer, or none, 

 entire. Stamens 2-10. Ovary i-celled, many ovuled ; styles 3. Pod 3-valved to the base. Seeds 

 reniform-globose or compressed, smooth, winged or tuberculate. [Name unexplained.] 



About 20 species, of wide geographic distribution, most of them inhabitants of saline shores or 

 salt marshes. Type species : Arenaria rubra L. 



Species of salt marshes or sea beaches ; leaves very fleshy. 



Pedicels 1^2-2 times the length of the sepals ; flowers pink. i. T. marina. 



Pedicels 2-4 times the length of the sepals ; flowers pale or white. 2. T. canadensis. 



Species mostly of dry sandy soil ; leaves scarcely fleshy. 3. T. rubra. 



i. Tissa marina (L.) Britton. Salt-marsh Sand Spurry. Fig. 1795- 



Arenaria rubra var. marina L. Sp. PI. 423. 1753. 

 Spergularia salina Presl, Fl. Cech. 95. 1819. 

 Buda marina Dumort. Fl. Belg. no. 1827. 

 Spergularia media A. Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 95. 1867. 

 Tissa marina Britton, Bull. Torr. Club 16 : 126. 1889. 

 Buda marina var. minor S. Wats, in A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 

 90. 1890. 



Annual or biennial, erect, ascending or nearly pros- 

 trate, 4'-8' high, freely branching, glabrous or glandular- 

 pubescent. Stipules ovate; leaves linear, terete, very 

 fleshy, i'-ii' long, $"-i" wide, often much fascicled in 

 the axils; pedicels spreading or ascending, 2"-$" long; 

 flowers numerous, pink; sepals ovate, acute or obtuse, 

 i "-3" long; capsule a little longer than the calyx; seeds 

 smooth, or roughened with projecting processes, wing- 

 less or winged. 



In salt marshes, New Brunswick to Florida and locally 

 in the interior. Also in those of the Pacific Coast, and of 

 Europe and northern Asia. Sea-side or bed-sandwort. 

 Summer. 



