CARYOPlIVLLACEiE. 131 



of the seeds in each capsule surrounded with a memhranoiis v,m<^ 

 half the width of the seed, striated and jagged at the edges, the 

 striae being nerves running out into the points of the teeth. 

 Plant deep green, slightly shining, generally more glabrous than 

 S. rubra. 



I hare followed Mr. A. G. More in uniting the three forms 

 enumerated as varieties above. A microscopical examination of 

 the seed shows that the roughness of var. a is not produced by 

 tubercles as in S. rubra, but by the presence of soft papilla? some- 

 thing like those on the seeds of Spergula arvensis, var. vulgaris ; and 

 there is such a gradual transition in the length of the pedicels, that 

 little reliance can be placed upon that character. The scarious 

 bracts of var. a are stipules, generally not accompanied by green 

 eaves. Eandberg places his S. medium in the section with a 

 perennial root ; but Fries, in his " Summa Vegetabilium Scan- 

 dinaviae," makes no correction of Koch's statement that it is 

 an annual, so that it must be supposed that he concurred in 

 this opinion. Professor Babington, in the fifth edition of his 

 " Manual," says that his S. neglectum " includes plants resembling 

 the S. medium and S. salinum of Fries," which seems to imply tliat 

 he is in doubt whether the forms of which he speaks be really the 

 same as Fries' plants so named ; and as I have not seen autlientic 

 specimens, I can only judge from his descriptions, which appear to 

 ajiply to our varieties 3 and 7. 



I/esser Sea Sandicort-Spurre?/. 



French, Spergvlaire Neglige. German, Salz-Schuppemmiere. 



SPECIES III.— SPERGULARIA MARGINATA. 



Plate CCLVII. 

 Lepigonum marginatum, Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. eil. ii. p. 121. 

 L. maiinum, "Wahl." Bah. !Man. Brit. Lot. ed. v. p. 127. Fries, Mant. III. p. 55. 



Brehisson, Fl. de la Normandie, p. 54. 

 Spergularia media, /3 marginata, Fend. Gr. k Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. p. 276. 

 S. media, Garcke. Fl. von N. und Mit.-Deutsch. ed. vL p. 69. 

 S. marina, var. /3, Hook. & Arn. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 153. 

 Arenaria marginata, D. C. FL Fr. Vol IV. p. 793. 

 A. marina, Sin. Eng. Bot. No. 958. 

 A. media, Linn. Sp. PI. p. 606. 



Pioot biennial or perennial. Rootstock slender, branched, 

 scarcely woody. Leaves fleshy, semi-cylindrical, filiform-linear, 

 sub-acute. Stipules deltoid-ovate, dull whitish, entire. Pedicels 

 much longer than the bracts, and two to three times the length of 

 the capsule. Sepals ovate. Petals as long as the sepals, pale lilac 

 or nearly white, concolorous. Stamens 10. Capsule longer than 

 the calyx, often twice as long. Seeds pale brown, smooth, without 



