594 BULLETIN DE I/HERBIER BOISSIER. (2) 



facultatis. Terlii generis herbam Alsinen minorem vocavimus. H8ec,quidem, 

 ut prima, pulchre descriptioni respondet, germa nice « Kleinvogelkraul » 

 nuncupalur. — Cauliculis serpit rolundis, e q-uorum geniculis exiles ramuli 

 prosiliunt, foliis Helxines minoribus. minusque hirsutis, flore exiguo, 

 candido, foris herbaceo. » This last sentence comprises the differenlial 

 diagnosis of « Alsine minor » from the two other plants of the same kind 

 ('gênera') described with it. The next botanist to notice this plant is Jacques 

 Dalechamps 1 , (1513-1588). The first référence to Arenaria as the name of 

 a gen us is by Jean Bauhin 2 , who refers to it a plant sent to him by 

 Sprenger from the neighbourhood of Ulm in Wurtemberg; but the plant 

 Hierein figured, and afterwards more fully described under the name of 

 « Arenaria : Holostei forte genus » by Dominique Chabrey s , is the species 

 now known as Sagina nodosa Fenzl. The woodcut, however, is very crude, 

 and would do equally badly for other species. The first botanist after Tour- 

 neforl to refer plants to the genus Arenaria is H. B. Rupp 4 , who en urne- 

 rates nine 'species' but does not define the genus, for which, moreover, he 

 cites Chabrey as the authority. The names of the nine plants he mentions 

 are, — (1) Arenaria palustris, (2) A. verna, strictissimo folio, (3) A. arven- 

 sis, vulgatior, (4) A. verna, fugax, glabra, (5) A. maritima, (6) A. tereti- 

 folia, verna, flore albo, (7) A. campestris, flore purpureo-cseruleo, (8) A. 

 plantaginis folio, (9) A. multicaulis, serpyllifolia. At the end of Rupp's 

 Flora is a figure of Arenaria palustris, obviously copied from Bauhin. In 

 the édition of the Flora issued in 1745 and edited by Haller, the following 

 note as to the aplness of the name of the genus is added after the 

 description of A. palustris : — « Cur vero Arenaria ab arenosis locis 

 dicatur, non capio; siquidem non arenosa, sed potius uliginosa prata 

 a met. » 



To thèse remarks on the early history of the genus it may be of inte- 

 resl to add, thaï A. serpyllifolia lias been identified in the débris of the 

 disinterred lake-villages of Switzerland ; and that A. saxatilis Linn. was 

 raised from seed in the Botanic Garden founded by P. R. de Belleval 5 at 

 Montpellier in 1598, which was the first Botanic Garden eslablished in 

 France. 



1 Historia Generalis Plantarum, p. 1233 (Leydeu, 1587). 



2 Historia Plantarum Universalis, III. p. 723 (Yverdon, 1651), not p. 736 as 

 copied from the index by all authors; see also Ray, Historia Plantarum, p. 1033. 



3 Omnium Stvrpwm SciagrapMa et Icônes, p. 450 (Geneva, 1677). 



4 Flora Jenensis, p. 89 (Frankfort, 1718). 



5 Nomencl. Stirp. Hort. reg. Monspeliensi. 



