. 
36 ON SOME SPECIES OF CERASTIUM. 
C. obscurum, Chaub., and C. a De Lens, are Sie’ same — 
and eet it. inhabits dry sandy and calcareous places. = 
am not at all prepared “to differ Son the Professor, but os 
own a onatiod: and investigations I am led to think that there are a 
least two forms, if not ‘subspecies, of which our se ion plant i is one 
form, and C. glutinosum, Fries, is another for Fries gives as the 
habitat. of ©. —— **In collibus a apricis arenosis sterilissimis 
s further, ‘* Herba flavescenti-viridis, siccata 
lutescens.” hoes is eres not true of the English C. pumilum, nagth ” 
for it grows on limestone soil, an the wear is rather & 
dron, ‘* Flore d 
purplish green. M. Go ore de Lorraine,” tom i, p.- 110, 
under the name C. alsin oidles, Lois., gives two forms, neither of 
which represent C. tetrandrum, Curt., vi obscurum, C. obscurum, 
Chaub., which he says has herbaceous bracts, and is a dar 
second form is 8. pallens ; this has the bracts narrowly membranous 
above, the calyx is smaller, and the seeds are half the size of var. 8. ; 
e plant is slender, of a green, and is co on alluvial soil, in 
meadows and sandy SP urassic limestone, 
in com the var. a., from whichit re dis 
¥ wit He 
also remarks that the seeds of a. obscurum are as strongly tubercled as 
those of C. vu/gatum, and that f. pallens also has tubercled—but he 
does not say a tubercled—seeds. 
: mn does not appear to know C. glutinosum, Fr. from . 
having ocenagliinces as he remarks that Fries characterises his C. 
Siadinanen as not iene’ tubercular seeds, and he concludes “e. alsi- 
goides, B. pallens, God., cannot be C. glutinosum, Fr., because the 
Taised, w t m, Cha m 
nent ieee om than either C. glutinosum, Fr., ‘or Cy ariasidse, B. 
pal 
~ Prof. Babington’s description - A gumiien xa <é — Brit. Bot.” is 
ed t 
reason, aS W 
and curved ae very conspicuous amongst the herbage ; 
the petals see gradually contracted sato a very short claw, or they 
are — claw ; the sith of the petal ee eatery the claw 
attach 
on Saray be termed sib- onal riosee in the e sense in which the sepals are 
seeds have minute, _— prominent, and somewhat acute 
tilieesion on the back. The curve at the top of the flower-stalk is per- 
sistent, and though the frnit-stalk ultimately becomes erect the curve 
at the top causes the calyx and capsule to form an obtuse angle with it. 
The lower leaves in the early stage of the i form a compact tuft ; 
the lowest leaves have long and very n: € upper ones are 
oblong ; in colour the plant i is darkish ones aed with reddish purple. 
hse cine 
* 
