CARYOPHYLLE^ 



221 



least in seedlings), indistinctly trinerved ; midrib with a few short, 

 alternate, ascending nerves uniting with the longitudinal, lateral, 

 slender, wavy submarginal ones ; petioles channelled above, subcar- 

 inate beneath, slightly hairy, connate at the base. 



1st to 3rd pairs spathulate, or often broadly spathulate, obtuse, 

 mucronate. 



Arenaria procumbens, Vahl. 



Fruit a capsule, small, ovoid, one-celled, several-seeded, dehisc- 

 ing by the same number of valves as there are carpels. 



Seed reniform, much compressed laterally, with a distinct notch 

 at the base, very finely reticulated, pale brown ; seed-coat double ; 

 the testa membranous, pale brown ; the tegmen thinner, whitish ; 

 hilum and micropyle con- 

 tiguous, basal in the ^ 

 notch. 



Endosperm copious, 

 farinaceous, white. 



Embryo curved round 

 just within the periphery 

 of the endosperm, colour- 

 less ; cotyledons accum- 

 bent, sometimes some- 

 what obliquely linear, 

 obtuse, entire, plano-con- 

 vex, lying in the broad 

 plane of the seed with 

 their edges to the axis 

 (presumably on account 

 of the seed being thin and 

 much compressed later- 

 ally) ; radicle terete, ob- 

 tuse, about equal in length 

 to the cotyledons, and 

 curved in conformity with 

 the curvature of the seed. 



Sagina procumbens, 

 L. (fig. 201). 



Primary root tapering downwards, with numerous slender, 

 lateral rootlets and abundantly provided with root-hairs. 



Hypocotyl very short or completely suppressed. 



Cotyledons small, subulate, acute, much broader at the base, 



