CARYOPHYLLEyt 297 



M. polygonoides is more dwarf, with broader leaves, 

 and flowers five-petal led. Grows in detritus on the Alps, 

 between 1000 and i5oo m. 



Arenaria 



The genera Jlrenaria (Sandwort), Jllsine (Stichwort), 

 Sagina (Pearlwort), which are closely connected together, 

 are small, tufty plants, usually with fine leaves and white 

 flowers, most of which have 5 sepals and petals, though 

 some species of Sagina have only 4. The English species 

 once known as JWcehringia trinervis is now included under 

 Jlrenaria. There are in all about twenty alpine species 

 included in these genera; they are found in rocks, debris, 

 old walls, or sunny pastures of the Alps and Jura. Akin 

 to JWcehringia, they are similar in appearance but usually 

 grow in drier, sunny places. But for good garden kinds 

 we must go outside the Alps, e. q. to A. norvegica, bale- 

 arica, gofhica, purpurescens, montana. 



Ccrastium 



Eng.: Chickwccd; Tr. : Ceraiste; Ger. : Hornkraut. 



Sepals five; petals five, bifid; stamens ten, rarely five; 

 fruit capsule opens by ten teeth. 



C. arvense (PI. XXIV). Stems at the base procumbent, 

 then ascendent; leaves ovate; sepals broadly membranous; 

 white petals, slightly longer than the calyx. Fields, road- 

 sides, from 5oo to i5oo m. 



C. glaciate (PI. XXV). Tufty and running plant, with 

 many stems, furnished with oblong, greyish leaves; 

 flowers large, white, with spreading petals twice as long 

 as the calyx. August-September. Stones and glacier mo- 

 raines (1900-2000 m.). 



