'54 



BRITISH FLORA 



are 4-5 (with membranous margin), the petals 

 notched, with branched veins. The flower-stalk 

 is erect in fruit. The capsule is hardly longer 

 than the sepals, erect, straight. The plant is 

 4-12 in. high, flowers from April to October, and 

 is a herbaceous annual. 



Stitchwort (Stellaria apetala, Ucria = S. Borce- 

 ana, Jord.). The habitat of this species is dry 

 banks and heaths. The habit is prostrate,branched 

 below. From S. media it differs in having 3 

 stamens, and there are no petals (hence the Latin 

 specific name) and no styles, the stigma is short 

 and bent. The small seeds have small, blunt, wart- 

 like projections. The plant is pale-yellowish- 

 green. It is 3-12 in. in height, and flowers from 

 March to May, being a herbaceous annual. 



Fine-leaved Sandwort (Arenaria tenuifolia, L.). 

 Fine-leaved Sandwort grows in sandy fields or 

 waste places. The habit is erect, the plant being 

 slender, with simple or forked, branched stems. 

 The leaves are awl-shaped, linear. The white 

 flowers are borne in the forks, and the sepals, 

 which are 3-veined, are as long as, or shorter 

 than, the egg-shaped petals. The capsule is 

 3-valved. The plant is from 4-6 in. in height. 

 May and June are the months in which it is in 

 flower. Like some other Caryophyllaceous plants 

 it is an annual. 



Sandwort (Arenaria leptoclados, Guss.). This 

 Sandwort is found in dry, sandy places, and in 

 chalky fields, also on walls, along roadsides, and 

 on cultivated ground. The habit is prostrate, and 

 the plant is branched, slender, weak, not rigid as 

 in A. serpyllifolia. It is downy, the leaves stalk- 

 less, acute, egg-shaped, smaller and narrower 

 than those of the latter. The flower is white, the 

 fruit-stalk is curved above, becoming straight, 

 and the capsule is oblong and flexible, not brittle. 

 The plant is from 3-6 in. or i ft. long. It is in 

 flower from May to August. The plant is 

 annual. 



Ciliated Pearlwort (Sagina ciliata, Fries - 5. 

 patula, Jord.). The habitat of this species is dry 

 places, sandy heaths. The habit is erect or spread- 

 ing. The plant is smooth or glandular, downy. The 

 central stems are flowering and erect or ascend- 

 ing, like the branches, not rooting. The leaves 

 are fringed with hairs (hence ciliata), blunt-pointed, 

 linear. The flowers are white. The 2 outer sepals 

 are pressed close to the capsule, pointed, hardly 

 shorter than the capsule, the tips spreading, 

 glandular, hairy, like the flower-stalks. The petals 

 are very small. The capsule is ovate to narrow, 

 rounded below, stalked. The plant is 1-6 in. high, 

 flowering from May to July, and is a herbaceous 

 annual. 



Procumbent Pearlwort (Sagina procumbent, L.). 

 The habitat of this species is waste places, 

 paths, banks. The habit is prostrate. The stems 

 are numerous, with long, tufted, axillary branches 

 from a central rosette, the primary shoot flower- 

 less, long-rooting, lateral, slender, the ultimate 

 branches tufted. The leaves are smooth, blunt, 

 with a short, blunt point, awned. The flowers 

 are solitary, as a rule, with the parts sometimes 



in fives, white, the sepals spreading in fruit, blunt, 

 shorter than the capsule. The petals are very 

 small, blunt, sometimes wanting. The tip of the 

 stalk is bent-back after flowering, then erect. The 

 styles are bent-back after flowering. The capsule 

 is longer than the sepals. The plant is 1-8 in. in 

 length, flowering from May to September, and is 

 a herbaceous perennial. 



Slender Pearlwort (Sagina subulata, Presl). 

 The habitat of this plant is heathy places, heaths, 

 dry pastures, dry gravelly, sandy places. The 

 plant has the rosette habit, and is tufted. The 

 stem is prostrate, glandular, hairy. The leaves 

 are linear, awned, fringed with hairs. The flowers 

 are white, the petals as long as the capsule, longer 

 than the calyx. The flower-stalks are glandular, 

 very long, the tip bent-back in fruit, then erect. 

 The sepals are closely pressed, blunt, glandular, 

 lance -shaped. The capsule is longer than the 

 sepals, egg-shaped, narrowed, round below, stalk- 

 less. The plant is 1-2 in. in height, flowering 

 between June and August, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Knotted Spurrey (Sagina nodosa, Fenzl). The 

 habitat of this plant is moist heaths, sandy places, 

 wet places. The plant has more or less the loose 

 rosette habit, or is prostrate. The plant is smooth 

 as a rule. The primary stem is short, and does 

 not flower, the lateral stems are prostrate, then 

 ascending at the base, 2-6 in. long. The stems 

 are leafy to the top of the branches, which are 

 curved, wiry, rooting at the nodes. The leaves 

 are linear, awl-like, acute, hairless, with leafbuds 

 in the axils, tufted, longer than the sepals. The 

 flower-stalks are short, erect, i-2-flowered. The 

 flowers are large, white. The petals are longer 

 than the sepals, which are blunt, oblong. The 

 capsules exceed the sepals. The plant is 2-6 in. 

 high, flowering in July and August, and is a herb- 

 aceous perennial. 



ORDER PORTULACE^E 



Blinks (Montia verna, Neck.). The habitat of 

 this plant is brooks, marshes, watery places. The 

 habit is tufted. The plant is pale-green, limp, 

 branched. The stem is short, rigid, erect. The 

 leaves are opposite, spoon-shaped, entire, not free 

 at the base. The flowers are white, very small, 

 drooping, then erect, the flower-stalks terminal 

 and axillary. The bracts have a membranous 

 border. The petals exceed the blunt sepals. The 

 capsule is inversely egg-shaped. The valves are 

 rolled longitudinally inwards after the seeds fall. 

 The seeds are shining, netted, rough. The plant 

 is 1-3 in. high, flowering between May and August, 

 and is a herbaceous annual. 



Montia lamprosperma, Cham. = M. fontana, L. 

 vera. The habitat is wet places, wet heaths. 

 The stem is limp, more or less erect. The leaves 

 are free below. The flowers are white, small. 

 The seeds are chestnut-brown, shining, netted, 

 with obscure tubercles. The plant is 3-8 in. high, 

 flowering from May to August, and is a herbaceous 

 annual. 



