CARYOPHYLLACE^E. (PINK FAMILY.) 89 



the sepals. Little, matted herbs, with thread-like or awl-shaped leaves, no 

 stipules, and small flowers terminating the stems or branches; in summer. 

 (Name from sagina, fattening ; previously applied to the spurry.) 



* Parts of the flower in fours , rarely with some few in jives. 



1. S. prociimbens, L. Annual or perennial, depressed or spreading on 

 the ground, glabrous ; leaves linear-thread-shaped ; apex of the peduncle often 

 hooked soon after flowering ; petals shorter than the broadly ovate obtuse sepals, 

 sometimes none. Springy places and damp rocks, coast of Maine to Penn. 

 (Eu.) 



2. S. ap&tala, L. Annual, erect or ascending ; leaves ciliate at base or 

 glabrous ; petals none or very small ; peduncles always erect. Dry soil, Mass, 

 to Penn. ; scarce, seemingly native ? (Eu.) 



* * Parts of 'the flower in Jives, the stamens not rarely 10. 



3. S. dectimbens, Torr. & Gray. Annual, ascending ; the peduncles and 

 calyx with the margins of the upper leaves atjirst glandular-pubescent; leaves 

 short, often bristly-tipped, not fascicled in the axils ; peduncles slender ; petals 

 equalling or shorter than the calyx ; pod oblong-ovate, nearly twice longer than 

 the acutish sepals. (S. subulata, Man., not Wimm.) E. Mass., to 111., Mo., 

 and southward. Var. SM^THII, a slender form, apetalous, at least in the later 

 flowers. Near Philadelphia, in waste ground, and in sandy fields at Somers v 

 Point, N. J., C. E. Smith. Seeds minutely roughened. 



4. S. nod6sa, Fenzl. Perennial, tufted, glabrous, or glandular above; 

 stems ascending (3-5' high) ; lower leaves thread-form, the upper short and 

 awl-shaped, with minute ones fascicled in their axils so that the branchlets ap- 

 pear knotty , petals much longer than the calyx. Wet sandy soil, along the 

 coast of Maine and N. II., also Lake Superior, and northward. (Eu.) 



11. BtTDA, Adans. SAND-SPURREY. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, entire. Stamens 2-10. Styles and valves of the many- 

 seeded pod 3, very rarely 5, when the valves alternate with the sepals ! Em- 

 bryo not coiled into a complete ring. Low herbs, mostly on or near the sea- 

 coast, with filiform or linear somewhat fleshy opposite leaves, and smaller ones 

 often clustered in the axils ; stipules scaly-membranaceous ; flowering all sum- 

 mer. (Named probably for the city so called.) Genus also known as TISSA, 

 Adans., SPERGULARIA, Presl, and LEPIGONUM, Wahlb. The species are very 

 variously understood by European botanists, and are much confused, as well 

 as the synonymy. Our forms are annual, or at the most biennial. 



1. B. rubra, Dumort. Nearly glabrous, the summit of the prostrate or 

 ascending slender stems, peduncles, and sepals usually glandular-pubescent ; 

 leaves linear, flat, scarcely fleshy ; stipules lanceolate, entire or cleft ; pedicels 

 longer than the bracts; pods and pink-red corolla small (!"), hardly equal- 

 ling or exceeding the calyx ; seeds rough with projecting points, semi-obovate or 

 gibbous-wedge-shaped, wingless. (Spergularia rubra, Presl.} Dry sandy soil, 

 New Eng. to Va., along and near the coast, but rarely maritime. (Eu.) 



2. B. marina, Dumort. More decidedly fleshy than the preceding, erect 

 or ascending, usually pubescent, with ovate stipules, terete leaves, and pedi- 

 cels 2 - 4" long ; sepals usually becoming 2 - 2$" long, little shorter than th 



