122 THE PrNE rAMrLT. 



petals. The British species are usually distributed into four sections, often 

 considered as independent genera, viz. Alsine, with the valves of the capsule 

 as many as the styles, and many seeds, including the vernal 8., the ioff S., 

 arid the Jine-leaved S. ; Sonclceneya, with the capsular valves as many as the 

 styles, and few large seeds, for the ovate 8. ; Arenaria, with the capsular 

 valves twice as many and no appendage to the seeds, including the fntiged 

 S. and the thyme-leaved S.; and Moehringia, with the capsule of Arenaria, 

 but with shining seeds, having a httle appendage to their hilum. 



Xeaves linear or subulate. 



Tufted perennials. Petals about as long as, or longer than, the sepals. 



Pedicels 2 to 4 lines long 1. Vernal 8, 



Pedicels 6 lines to an inch long or more 2. Sog S. 



Annual. Petals about half as long as the sepals 3. Fine-leaved S. 



Leaves ovate. 

 Leaves thick and fleshy. Capsules large, globular, 5-valved . . 4. Ovate S. 

 Leaves small or thin. Capsule 10-valved, small. 

 Leaves scarcely 2 lines long. Sepals with 3 nerves. 

 Annual, much branched, and downy. Petals shorter or 



scarcely longer than the calyx 5. Thyme-leaved S. 



Alpine, procumbent perennial. Petals much longer than the 



calyx 6. Fringed S. 



Leaves mostly half an inch, thin, and 3-nerved. Sepals l-nerved 7. Three-nenedS. 



1. Vernal Sand'wort. Arenaria vema, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 512.) 



Stock perennial, short, becoming densely tufted and thickly covered with 

 old leaves ; the flowering stems erect or decumbent, 2 to 4 inches high, and 

 branched. Leaves subulate, rather stiff, the upper ones short and broader. 

 Flowers in rather loose forked cymes, the pedicels usually slightly downy, 

 and seldom above 3 or 4 lines long. Sepals 11- to near 2 hnes long, pointed, 

 with 3 very prominent nerves. Petals obovate, spreading beyond the points 

 of the sepals. Capsule 3-valved. 



In stony or mountain pastures, almost all over the continent of Europe 

 and Russian Asia and in North America. Much less frequent in Britain, 

 and cliiefly in Scotland, northern England, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland. 

 Fl. spring and smnmer. A high northern and Arctic variety, extending to 

 tlie higher mountains of Scotland, has been distinguished under the name of 

 A. rubella (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2638). It is more stunted, with shorter 

 and rather broader leaves, few flowers, smaller and narrower petals, and 

 sometimes 4 or even 5 styles and capsular valves. 



2. 'Bog SaudTvort. Arenaria uliginosa, Schleich. 

 (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2890.) 



Perennial tufts like those of the vernal S., but the subtdate leaves are 

 rather thicker, almost succulent, the stems longer, with very few distant 

 pairs of leaves, the pedicels much longer, often an inch or even more, and 

 always glabrous, the sepals broader. Petals about the length of the calyx. 

 Capsule 3-valved. 



In bogs or mountain marshes, in Arctic and northern Europe and Asia, 

 and in some mountainous parts of central Europe, but never common. In 

 Britain, only known on Widdybank Fell, in Durham. Fl. summer. 



3. Fine-leaved Sand^rort. Arenaria tenuifolia, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 219.) 

 A very slender, erect, much branched annual, glabrous or very minutely 



