304 DECANDRIA— TRIGYNIA. Stellaria. 



S. fontana. Jacq. Coll. v. 1. 327. 



S. Alsine. Hoffm. Germ, for 1 79 1 . 153. t. 5. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 2. 



713. 

 Alsine n. 881. Hall. Hist. v. 1.387. 



A. aquatica folio Gratiolse, stellato flore. Dill. Giss. 58. app. 39. 

 A. longifolia uliginosis proveniens locis. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. p. 2. 



365./ Rail Sijn. 347. 

 A. aquatica media. Bauh. Pin. 251. Moris, v. 2. 550. sect. 5. 



f. 23./. 8. 

 A. fontana. Ger. Em. 613./; good. 



A. Hypericifolio. Vaill. Par. 9. ; descr. of the petals erroneous. 

 Bog Stitchwort. Pet. H. Brit. t. 58./. 4. 



In rivulets, ditches, springs and watery spots. 



Annual. June. 



Root fibrous, small. Herb smooth, pale and somewhat glaucous. 

 Ste)ns weak, generally much and alternately branched, square, 

 leafy. Leaves not an inch long, lanceolate, or somewhat ellip- 

 tical, acute, with a brownish callous tip, a single mid-rib, and 

 numerous lateral branching veins. Flower-stalks axillary as well 

 as terminal, usually 2 or 3 together, some simple, some divided, 

 slender, angular, smooth, swelling under the flowers. Bracteas 

 opposite, small, membranous, awl-shaped. Fl. small, white. 

 Cabjx-leaves taper-pointed, 3-ribbed ; the outer ones sometimes 

 downy at the edges. Pet. deeply divided, narrow, much shorter 

 than the calyx. Styles, according to Dr. Stokes, varying occa- 

 sionally to 4 or 5. 



The synonyms of this species evince what the nomenclature of bo- 

 tany would be, if every writer were to run wild after his own 

 fancy. I have retained the original specific name, given by 

 Murray. Willdenow has perpetuated one of the worst; for 

 every Stellaria has, at one time or other, been called Alsine. 



7. S. scapigera. Many-stalked Stitchwort. 



Leaves linear-lanceolate, rough-edged. Stem shorter than 

 the flower-stalks. Calyx three-ribbed, as long as the 

 petals. 



S. scapigera. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 2. 716. Engl. Bot. v. 18. t. 1269. 

 Fl. Br. 1397. Comp. 69. Hook. Scot. 137. Don H. Brit. 10. 



By the sides of rivulets on the Scottish mountains. 



In Perthshire, and about Loch Nevis, Invernesshire. Mr. G. Don. 



Perennial. June. 



Stems erect, very short, tufted, simple or subdivided, densely 

 leafy, angular. Leaves crowded, an inch or inch and half long, 

 lanceolate, or almost linear, single-ribbed, rough at the edges, 

 fringed at the base, of a grass green, turning reddish as they 

 fade. Flower-stalks very numerous, rising much above the stem 

 and foliage, axillary, solitary or aggregate, simple, slender, an- 

 gular, smooth, naked, single-flowered. Fl. small, white. Cal. 



