Genus 4, 



CHICKWEED FAMILY. 



4. SAGINA L. Sp. PL 128. 1753. 

 Tufted matted low annual or perennial herbs, with subulate leaves, and small pedicelled 

 whitish flowers. Sepals 4 or 5. Petals of the same number, entire, emarginate or none. 

 Stamens of the same number, or fewer, or twice as many. Ovary i-celled, many-ovuled. 

 Styles as many as the sepals and alternate with them. Capsule 4-S-valved, at length dehis- 

 cent to the base, the valves opposite the sepals. [Ancient name of the spurry.] 



About 10 species, natives of the northern hemisphere. Type species: Sagina procumbens L. 

 Parts of the flower in 4's (or some flowers in 5's) ; seeds not resinous-dotted. i. S. procumbens. 



Parts of the flower in s's, rarely some in 4's. 

 Leaves opposite, not fascicled. 



Petals equalling or shorter than the sepals ; seeds resinous-dotted. 2. S. decnmbens. 



Petals and pods longer than the sepals. 3. S. saginoides. 



Leaves fascicled in the axils ; petals exceeding the sepals. 4. 5". nodosa. 



I. Sagina procumbens L. Procumbent Pearlwort. 

 Fig. 1773- 



Sagina procumbens L. Sp. PI. 128. 1753. 



Annual or perennial, branching, decumbent, depressed or 

 spreading, glabrous or minutely downy, matted, l'-3' high. 

 Leaves linear, subulate, i"-3" long, connate at the base ; 

 flowers about l" broad, numerous; peduncles capillary, 

 longer than the leaves, often recurved at the end after flower- 

 ing; sepals 4, sometimes 5, ovate-oblong, obtusish. generally 

 longer than the petals, which are occasionally wanting; 

 stamens 4, rarely 5; capsule about equalling the calyx; seeds 

 dark brown, not resinous-dotted. 



In moist places, Newfoundland and Greenland to Delaware and 

 Michigan. Native of Europe and Asia. Our plant is probably in 

 part naturalized from Europe, as it is in Mexico and in South 

 America. Breakstone. Bird's-eye. Poverty. May-Sept. 



Sagina nivalis Fries, a very diminutive species, inhabits Green- 

 land and arctic Europe and is recorded from Labrador. 



2. Sagina decumbens (EIL) T. & G. Decumbent 

 Pearlwort. Fig. 1774. 



Spergula decumbens Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. i : 523. 181 7. 



Sagina decumbens T. & G. Fl. N. A. i : 177. 1838. 



Sagina subulata T. & G. Fl. N. A. i : 178. 1838. Not Presl, 1826. 



Sagina subulata var. Smithii A. Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 95. 1867. 



Sagina decumbens Smithii S. Wats. Bibl. Index i: 105. 1878. 



Annual, tufted, stems decumbent, erect or ascending, 2'-4' long, 

 glabrous or minutely glandular-pubescent above. Leaves nar- 

 rowly linear, sometimes bristle-tipped, 3"-$" long; peduncles 

 filiform, 3"-i5" long; flowers i"-ii" broad; sepals, petals and 

 styles S, or rarely 4; stamens 5 or 10; petals equalling or shorter 

 than the calyx or none ; pod ovoid-oblong, nearly twice as long as 

 the calyx; sepals acutish or obtuse; seeds with resinous glands. 



In dry soil, eastern Massachusetts to Illinois, south to Florida, Mis- 

 souri and Louisiana. Slender races with 4-parted flowers, the petals 

 minute or wanting have been mistaken for 5'. apetala Ard. of Europe. 

 March-May. 



3. Sagina saginoides (L.) Britten, 

 wort. Fig. 1775. 



Arctic Pearl- 



Spergula saginoides L. Sp. PI. 44i- I753- 



Sagina Linnaei Presl, Rel. Haenk. 2: 14. 1835. 



Sagina saginoides Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5: 151. 1894. 



Perennial, glabrous, tufted, 1-4' high, few-flowered or 

 the flowers solitary at the ends of the stems. Leaves 

 linear-subulate, or filiform, 2"-$" long, acuminate or mu- 

 cronate ; flowers ii"-2i" broad ; sepals, petals and styles 5 ; 

 stamens 10; sepals oval, obtuse, half the length of the 

 ovoid-oblong capsule. 



On rocks, Labrador, Anticosti, Quebec, and in arctic America. 

 Also in the higher Rocky Mountains south to Colorado and 

 Utah, and in California. Also in alpine and arctic Europe 

 and Asia. Summer. 



