12. CARYOPHYLLACE^. 227 



Descends to the coast level, in the Peninsula. 



Ascends to 100 yards, in England. 



Range of mean annual temperature 51 — 47. 



Native. Paludal. Not common in England, but re- 

 ported from upvrards of thirty counties. In the province 

 of Tyne, it has occurred on ballast hills. Hopkirk in- 

 cludes it in his list of Glasgow plants ; Don says that it is 

 found " near Dundee, but rare." Lowe enters it among 

 his plants of Orkney. I fear to trust these localities with- 

 out corroboration ; and thus greatly limit the alleged area 

 of the species, for the present. Possibly forty counties 

 may be an extreme estimate ; yet thirty would seem under 

 the probability. j_ 



192. Cerastium vulgatum, Linn. 



Area, general. 



South limit in Cornwall, Isle of Wight, Kent. 



North limit in Shetland, Orkney, Hebrides. 



Estimate of provinces 18. Estimate of counties 82. 



Latitude 50 — 61. British type of distribution. 



Agrarian region. Inferagrarian — Superagrarian zones. 



Descends to the coast level, in the Peninsula. 



Ascends to 350 yards, in East Highlands. 



Range of mean annual temperature 52 — 43. 



Native. Agrestal, &c. A common plant, the name of 

 which has been inextricably crossed and confused with 

 that of C. viscosum, in books. On account of this confu- 

 sion of the two names, several modern botanists have used 

 those of C. glomeratum (C. vulgatum) and C. triviale (C. 

 viscosum) instead of the older Linnean names. An objec- 

 tion against this sort of change, occurs in the fact that 

 scores or hundreds of other pairs of resembling species are 



