68 PINK FAMILY. 



A. difftisa, Spreading S. Shady grounds S. Plant soMowny ; stems 

 prostrate, 1° or more long; leaves lanceolate; peduncles lateral, 1-flowered; 

 petals shorter than the sepals or none. y. 



* * Petals conspicuous, longer than the cali/x, white. % 



A. Iaterifl6ra, Side-plowering S. Gravelly shores and banks N. 

 Plant minutely downy ; stem erect, 3' - 10' high, sparingly branching ; pedun- 

 cles few-flowered, soon becoming lateral by the farther growth of the leaty stem ; 

 leaves oval or oblong. „., ,,,„,,.t 



A. Striata. Rocky or shady banks N. Tufted, smooth, 4' - 6' high ; stems 

 crowded with slender almost bristle-form leaves ; flowers several in a termmal 

 open cyme ; sepals sharp-pointed. , „ ■, , c 



A. squarrdsa, Pine-bakren S. In sand, coast of New Jersey and b. 

 Densely tufted on a deep root, 3' - 5' high ; leaves much crowded, short, awl- 

 shaped, smooth ; the flowering branches or few-flowered peduncles glandular ; 

 sepals obtuse. . „ . -, 



A. Groenl^ndica, Mocntain S. On rocky summits of mountains and 

 N. E. coait. Densely tufted, soft; leaves thread-form ; flowering stems 2' -4' 

 high, few-flowered, the flowers large in proportion ; petals notched at the end. 



A. peploides, Sea Sandwort, in sands of sea-shore N., is large, with 

 very fleshy ovate leaves, and axillary flowers. 



U. SPERGULARIA, SAND SPURREY. (Name from likeness to 



Spergula.) A sort of Sandworts with scaly-merabranaceous stipules, and 



reddish flowers, produced all summer : chiefly maritime. ® ^ ? 



S. rtlbra. The field form of this is common in sand or gravel, along roads 



»nd paths, E., quite away from salt water ; smoothish, prosti-ate in tufts ; leaves 



thread-shaped ; pod and pink-red corolla hardly exceeding the calyx ; seeds 



rough, wingless, half-obovate. 



S. saliua. Larger and more fleshy, only in brackish sands ; with short 

 peduncles, pale corolla, pod longer than the calyx, and rough obovate-rounded 

 (winged or wingless) seeds. 



S. m^dia. Like the last, in salt marshes and sands, but with longer pedun- 

 cles and smooth seeds. 



12. SPERGULA, SPXJRREY. (Latin sparjere, to scatter, i.e. its seeds.) 

 S. arv6nsis, Corn S. Stems 1° or so high ; bearing several thread- 

 shaped leaves in the whorls, and terminating in a panicle of white flowers. 

 A weed in grain-fields, cult, in Europe as a forage plant, sheep being fond of it : 

 fl. summer. ® 



13. ANYCHIA, FORKED CHICKWEED. (Name of obscure mean- 

 ing.) ® 



A. dioh6toina, a common little herb ; in shady places it is smooth and 

 erect, 6' — 10' high, with repeatedly forking long-jointed very slender stems, 

 minute short-stalked greenish flowers in the forks, and oval or oblong leaves ; in 

 dry or parched soil it is spreading on the ground, short-jointed, narrower-leaved, 

 often pubescent, the flowers more clustered and nearly sessile : all summer. 



14. SCLERANTHUS, KNAWEL. (From Greek words meaning hard 

 and flower, referring to the indurated tube of the calyx. ) 



S. ^nnuus, our only species, is nat. from Eu. in gravelly grounds, around 

 gardens, &c., a very pale little herb, 3' -5' high, very much branched and 

 spreading, with short awl-shaped leaves, and greenish small flowers clustered or 

 sessile in the forks, in late summer and autumn. 



15. MOLLUGO, CARPET -WEED. (An old Latin name for some soft 

 plant.) (f) 



M. vertieillata. A very common, small, prostrate and spreading little 

 weed, in waste gravelly soil, gardens, &c., with spatulate leaves and 1-flowered 

 pedicels in clusters or whorls at the joints ; the sepals white inside ; stamens 3 : 

 n. all summer. 



