DECANDRIA— TRIGYNIA. Arenaria. 307 



Root^ creeping very extensively. Herb smooth and succulent, 

 bright green, recumbent. Stem much branched, angular, pale, 

 leafy. Leaves sessile, ovate, acute, thick, entire, single-ribbed, 

 about half an inch long. Stipulas none. FL from the forks of 

 the stem, few, solitary, on short stalks, small and inconspicuous. 

 Cal. smooth, purplish, obtuse, without ribs or veins. Pet. white, 

 obovate, spreading in the sun-shine only. Glands 10, alternate 

 with the stamens, which are ranged in one uniform row. St7jles 

 very short. Caps, roundish. Seeds few, large, obovate, black, 

 dotted. 



The peculiar habit might countenance Ehrhart's separation of this 

 plant from Arenaria; but the nectariferous glands, on which he 

 chiefly depends for a generic character, are too little known, 

 and perhaps too various, in the rest of the species, to be de- 

 pended on. The other broad-leaved kinds appear to connect 

 this with the narrow-leaved ones. 



2. A.trinervis. Plantain-leaved Chickweed, or Sand- 



wort. 



Leaves ovate, acute, stalked, ribbed. Calyx obscurely 

 three-ribbed, with a rough keel. 



A.trinervis. Linn. Sp. PL 605. WiUd. v. 2.7\S. Fl.Br.478. 

 Engl. Bof. v.-^l. t. 1483. Curt. Lond. fuse. 4. t.3l. Hook, 

 Scot. 137. Ft. Dan. t. 429. Allion. Pedem. r. 2. Ill . 



Alsine n. 878. Hall. Hist. v. 1. 386. 



A. plantaginis folio. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. p. 2. 363. /. 364. Rail 

 Syn. 349. 



In shady bushy places, where the soil is rather moist. 



Annual. Maij, June. 



Root small, tapering. Stems weak, branching, a foot high, leafy, 

 round, downy all over. Leaves pale, ovate, acute, fringed, with 

 3, rarely 5, ribs ; the lower ones smallest, and on longest stalks ; 

 largest measuring about an inch ; all destitute of stipulas. 

 Flower-stalks simple, slender, finely downy, solitary, from the 

 forks of the stem, and summits of the branches, twice the length 

 of the leaves. Bracteas none. /"/. small, white, drooping as the 

 seeds ripen. Calyx-leaves longer than the petals, lanceolate, 

 acute, with membranous edges, and 3 not very conspicuous 

 ribs ; the middle one most downy. Caps, ovate, thin, opening 

 with 6 revolute teeth. Seeds kidney-shaped, black and smooth. 



3. A. serpyllifolia. Thyme-leaved Sandwort. 



Leaves ovate, nearly sessile, rough. Calyx hairy; three 



outermost of its leaves five-ribbed. 

 A. serpyllifolia. Linn. Sp. PI. 6m. JVilld.v.2. 720. H.Br. 479. 



Engl. Bot. V. 13. ^.923. Curt. Lond. fasc. 4. t.32. Hook. 



Scot. 138. Fl.Dun. t.977. 



X 2 



k 



