CARYOPHYLLACEiE. 113 



Var. ^, laxa. 



A. laxa, Jord. Pug. p. 34. Boreau, Fl. du Centre de la Fr. ed. iii. Vol. II. p. 107. 



Plant glabrous, witli the calyx and sometimes the leaves clothed 

 ■fl-ith a few glandular hairs. Stamens usually only 5. Capsule 

 longer than the sepals, fusiform-conical. 



Var. y, hijhrida. 



A. bybrida, " Vill." Jord. Pug. p. 33. Bweau, Fl. du Centre de la Fr. ed. iii. Vol. II. 



p. 107. 

 A. tenuifolia /3, viscosa, Bah. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 52. 



Upper part of the stem, peduncles, and sepals with glandular 

 hairs. Stamens 8 to 10. Capsule a little longer than the sepals, 

 ovate-conical. 



On old walls and in dry fields and waste places. Var. a not 

 very common, and principally found in the South-East of England, 

 extending as far North as Yorkshire. It has been reported from 

 the coast of the Eirth of Forth ; but it is probable that some mis- 

 take has occurred respecting it, or it may have been casually intro- 

 duced with ballast, as it has not been found recently North of the 

 Tweed. Var. I have only seen from Great Wilbraham, Cam- 

 bridgeshu-e, from which locality I am favoured by IMr. J. G. Baker 

 with specimens collected by Mr. E. T. Brocas. Var. y I possess, 

 through the kindness of Mr. Newbould, from Thetford, Suffolk. 



England, [Scotland ?]. Annual. Summer. 



Stems very slender, 2 to 8 inches high in the larger examples, 

 giving off branches at the base nearly as long as the main stem, 

 and both again giving off short alternate branches terminated by 

 lax dichotomous cymes, so that the arrangement of the whole is 

 paniculate-corymbose. Leaves crowded at the collar of the stem, 

 remote on its upper part, i to ^ inch long, narrowly linear from 

 an enlarged base, generally slightly recurved. Elowers rather 

 numerous, white, xg iiich or a little more across. Pedicels very 

 slender. Seeds pale reddish brown. Plant pale green, with the 

 stems and pedicels frequently tinged with red or purple. 



Var. 3 seems to be scarcely separable even as a variety, although 

 the plant itself and all its parts are more slender ; the few gland- 

 tipped hairs on the sepals form a very inconspicuous distinction. 

 Var. 7, however, appears much more distinct ; it has the branches 

 more spreading, the capsule considerably broader at the base, so 

 that the closed fruiting calyx is much less slender, and the gland- 



VOL. II. Q 



