322 DR. HOOKER ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ARCTIC PLANTS. 



to S. uivalis and procmnbens. Bentham unites with it >S. subulata, Wi m in. {procmnhens 

 /3, L.). 



Arenaria nardifolia. Led. This and A. formosa are considered varieties of one by 

 Fenzl (Led. M. Ross.). Torrey and Gray remark that the Arctic American plant figured 

 in ' rior. Bor.-Am.' does not accord well with Ledehour's. To me they appear both to 

 resemble very closely A. lyclmidea, M. Bieb, a Caucasian species; but very large suites 

 of all these and their cognate species are required to arrive at any conclusion as to their 

 limits. All the North Asiatic and American Alsmece are in a most unsatisfactory state. 



A. Lapponica, Spr., is reduced to A. uliginosa, by Tenzl in 'Flor. Ross.,' and both to 

 Alsine stricta, Wahl. 



A. Bossii, Br. This, which I find often confounded with rubella in Arctic Herbaria, 

 may prove to be a polar state of A. uliginosa, Schl. ; it has been found in very high lati- 

 tudes only. 



A. stricta, Mich., is A. {Alsine) Michauxii, Eenzl, according to A. Gray (Bot. N. U. 

 States) . 



A. verna, L. Under this name I have grouped four others, which represent as many 

 arctic forms of this protean plant, and have all been reduced to it by Fenzl and other 

 writers. Thus hirta and p)ropinqua both come under lusus 1. of Penzl's var. /3. Mrta ; 

 rubella and qiiaclrivalcis under var. 0. glacialis. Fries, however, distinguishes rubella 

 specifically from verna by its habit, and rugulose, not granulate seeds. A, Giesekii, 

 Horn. (Flor. Dan. 1518), is rubella y of Lange. 



A. Pumilio, Br., is reduced to arctica, Stev., /3, by Torrey and Gray ; but if correctly, I 

 do not see how arctica is to be kept distinct from biflora, AVahl. Ledehour's arctica is in- 

 deed referred to biflora by Fenzl. According to Fenzl's descriptions (which do not however 

 contrast), arctica is distinguished by the broader petals (sometimes narrower by deformity), 

 and seeds " leevissimis fuscis," in opposition to " levissime rugulosis." But I find the 

 seeds of the Lapland plant to be undistinguishable under any magnifying power from 

 those of the American ; and the petals are, as Fenzl's description states, excessively 

 variable in both. 



A. Norvegica, Gunn. Fi'ies, who includes this under A. ciliata as a variety, or, perhaps, 

 distinct species, assigns it a rather different range, ciliata being found in Lapland and N. 

 Finland only ; Norvegica in N. NorAvay and S. Lapland. A. ciliata alone is found in 

 Arctic Russia, according to Ledehour's ' Flora;' but neither appear in Ruprecht's SSamoied 

 Flora.' Watson considers their distinctness to be questionable ; and Bentham unites them. 



A. Grcenlandica, Spr. This has been found in Arctic Greenland by Kane's Expedition 

 only, which brought it from Upernavik, lat. 73° N. 



HoNKENEJA pex)loides, Ehr. A doubtful native of Lapland according to Fries, who 

 indicates a subspecies {oblongi folia, Torr. & Gray) as inhabiting that country. 



Stellaria crispa, Cham. Eenzl says of this, " A S. boreali vix distincta, facUe tamen 

 distinguenda." I am at a loss to distinguish it, either by specimens or book characters. 

 According to Fries, borealis is rare in Lapland, but its var. calycantha is common through- 

 out that country. Planchon, who has studied the genus very carefully, points out (Herb. 



