Sagina.'] xiv. CARYOPiiYLLACEiE : alsine-e. 



63 



^ 



the last, smaller and annual. Leaves narrower, more bristle-pointed, 

 more glaucous and slightly hairy at the margins, sometimes glabrous. 

 Petals always present, obcordate, or wedge-shaped and truncated. 



2. S. cz7mta Fries (ciliated P.) ; annual, stem erect or ascend- 

 ing, leaves aristate glabrous or fringed, "petals none," sepals of 

 the fruit erect or close-pressed to the capsule, 2 outer ones 

 mucronate or aristate. 



Dry gravelly places and walls, probably frequent in England. 

 Near Edinburgh ; under the stone table on the summit of Kinnoul 

 Hill, and by the road-side to Dundee, near Perth. ©. 5 — 9. — We 

 introduce this species with much hesitation as distinct from S, apetala, 

 the only certain difference consisting in the direction of the sepals when 

 in fruit. The plant is stated to be nearly glabrous; but our Scotch 

 specimens (and we have seen only the present one from Scotland) 

 are quite as hairy as the S, apetala ; the outer sepals are usually more 

 decidedly mucronate, or even aristate ; but as the leaves are also 

 rather more aristate, such a structure of sepals is a natural conse- 

 quence. There are said to be no petals in this and the next ; still as 

 the normal state of the genus is to possess petals, forms of all the 

 legitimate species must occasionally occur with them. 



3. S. rdaritima Don (Sea P.) ; annual glabrous, stems erect 

 or procumbent only at the base, leaves fleshy obtuse or with a 

 short apiculus, " petals none," sepals 4 roundish-ovate about as 

 long as the capsule erect in fruit. £• JB. t. 2195. 



Sea-coast not unfrequent, chiefly In places occasionally overflowed. 

 ©. 5 — 9. — Quite glabrous. Calyx blunt, longer, or sometimes 

 shorter than the capsule^ sepals erect and close pressed to the fruit. 

 Leaves " rounded at the back ; " Mr, W^ Wilson, This species appears 

 distinct and well-marked, it has a reddish or purplish tinge, especially 

 on the stems and leaves; but we are sometimes inclined to doubt if the 

 difference between it and the two preceding may not arise from the 

 place of growth, and if so, they might be judiciously combined. 



4. B» procumbens L. (procumbent P.); perennial usually gla- 

 brous, stems procumbent, central one very short, leaves mu- 

 cronate, sepals 4 or rarely 5, much longer than the petals 

 spreading in fruit, styles reflexed during flowering. j&. B. 

 t. 880. 



Waste places, and dry pastures, everywhere, and at all elevations. 

 ^. 5 — 9. — The central stem is very short, erect, and without flowers, 

 lateral ones spreading, 2 — 4 inches long, and often sending out roots 

 from different parts at the insertion of the leaves, and these throwing 

 up new plants. In some situations It grows amongst iS'. subulata, and 

 in others amongst S, saxatilis, from both of which it is with diflSculty 

 distinguished. Leaves llnear-subulate, connate, with membranous 

 margins at the base, tipped with a short pellucid point or mucro. 

 Peduncles solitary, axillary and terminal, about an Inch long, recurved 

 at the apex after flowering, but erect when in fruit. " A pubescent 

 var. occurs In Sussex." Mr. Borrer. 



