63 VI. CAEYOPHYLLEAE. [Spergula. 



SOUTH Island : Marlborough : " Awatere Valley and Sinclair Range ; alt. 4,000ft. Otago : 

 Lake district." — Handbk. N.Z. El. 25. CAMPBELL island. Jan. Also in Australia and Arctic 

 America. 



The above description is drawn exclusively from Campbell Island specimens, as all the South 

 Island forms that have come under my notice appear to belong to C. acicularis, Hook, f., the leaves 

 and sepals having longer acicular tips than those of the Campbell Island plant, the perianth of 

 which is exactly represented by fig. i, t. 93, in El. Antarc. The Falkland Island plant, from its 

 more slender habit and tetramerous flowers, appears to be distinct. 



8. C. acicularis, Hook. /., Handbk. N.Z. Fl. 25. Densely tufted, rigid. 

 Stems lin.— Sin. long, sliinihg, green or brown. Leaves densely imbricated, 

 iin.— fin. long or more, linear-subulate, with very long acicular points. Flowers 

 hidden amongst the leaves, almost sessile. Sepals 5, linear-lanceolate, with long 

 acicular tips, one-third longer than the capsule. 



SOUTH Island : in rooky places. Nelson to Southland. 2,500ft. to 5,500ft. 



A more robust species than the preceding, from which it differs in the longer stems and 

 leaves and the narrower sepals. 



9. C. Buchanani, T. Kirk I.e. 358, t. 27d. Laxly tufted. Stems 

 slender, lin.— Sin. high. Leaves not imbricating, lax, ^in.— j^^in. long, linear- 

 subulate, with acicular points, membranous, concave above, convex beneath, 

 patent or spreading. Flowers axillary, on slender peduncles exceeding the 

 leaves, or rarely shorter. Sepals 5, narrow linear-subulate, acute, one-half 

 longer than the capsule. Disk narrow. 



SOUTH Island : Manuherikia Valley, Otago, Buchanan I A remarkably distinct species, of 

 which I have only two specimens. 



10. C. muscoides, Hook. /., Fl. Antarc. i. 14. A soft densely-tufted 

 bright-green plant, forming amorphous or rounded masses lin.— IBin. in dia- 

 meter or more, excessively branched and matted. Leaves glabrous, densely 

 imbricated, patent or ascending, j^in.— Jin. long, linear with dilated bases, 

 obtuse. Flowers on short peduncles sunk amongst the leaves. Sepals 4, ovate- 

 lanceolate, obtuse, concave, equalling the capsule, the two lateral sepals larger 

 than the others. Disk very large. — Handbk. 25 ; Decaisne, Voy. au Pole Sud. 

 Bot. Dicot. t. 17. 



The SNARES ; AUCKLAND, CAMPBELL, MAOQUARIE, and ANTIPODES Islands. 

 As the stems become matted they give ofl rootlets in abundance, while the seeds sometimes 

 germinate in the capsules, and at others are found buried amongst the decaying stems. 



* SPERGULA, Linn. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5. Stamens 5 or 10. Styles 5. Capsules 5-valved ; valves 

 entire, opposite the sepals. Seeds compressed, usually margined or winged. Embryo 

 spirally annular. Annual herbs with fascicled branches and crowded apparently 

 verticillate leaves. Flowers in terminal paniculate cymes, white. 



*S. arvensis, L., Sp. PI. 440. Annual, with more or less pubescent genicu- 

 late stems, 6in.-12in. high, branched from the root. Leaves linear, convex above, 

 furrowed beneath. Flowers in terminal racemose cymes, often paniculate. Sepals 

 ovate, rounded, longer or shorter than the petals. Seeds black, subglobose, girt with 

 a raised ring round the middle, minutely punctulate or smooth. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands: naturalised in cultivated and waste land, Corn-spurrey. 

 Oct. to Jan. Europe. 



