ALSINACEAE. 



Vol. II. 



2. Tissa canadensis (Pers.) Britton. North- 

 ern Sand Spurry. Fig. 1796. 



Arenaria canadensis Pers. Syn. i : 504. 1805. 



Tissa salina Britton Bull. Torr. Club 16: 127. 1889. 



Not Spergularia salina Presl. 

 Bxtda borealis S. Wats, in A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 90. 1890. 

 Tissa canadensis Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5: 152. 1894. 



Annual, slender, diffuse and spreading, entirely 

 glabrous, 2'-$' high. Leaves linear, fleshy, teretish, 

 5"-8" long, mainly obtuse, generally simply opposite 

 and not fascicled; stipules broadly ovate; pedicels 

 slender, spreading, 3"-6" long, at length much ex- 

 ceeding the calyx; sepals i" long; flowers pale or 

 white; capsule twice the length of the calyx; seeds 

 smooth or papillose, usually wingless. 



On muddy shores, Labrador to Rhode Island. Bed- 

 sandwort. Summer. 



3. Tissa rubra (L.) Britton. Sand Spurry. Purple 

 Sandwort. Fig. 1797. 



Arenaria rubra L. Sp. PI. 423. 1753. 

 Buda rubra Dumort. FI. Belg. no. 1827. 

 Spergularia rubra Presl, Fl. Cech. 93. 1819. 

 Tissa rubra Britton, Bull. Torr. Club 16; 127. 1889. 



Annual or biennial, depressed or ascending, very leafy 

 up to the inflorescence, glabrous or sparingly glandular- 

 pubescent above, 2'-6' high, often forming dense little 

 mats. Leaves linear, flat, scarcely fleshy, 2"-/^" long; 

 flowers bright pink, i"-i J "broad ; stipules ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate; sepals ovate-lanceolate, acutish; pedicels slen- 

 der, spreading, 2"-^" long ; pods about equalling the calyx ; 

 seeds wingless, rough with projecting points. 



In waste places and along roadsides, or sometimes maritime. 

 Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, western New York, Ohio and 

 Virginia. Apparently adventive from Europe in large part, 

 but perhaps indigenous northward. Also introduced in Cali- 

 fornia and Oregon. Native of Europe and Asia. Bed-sand- 

 wort. Summer. 



20. LOEFLINGIA L. Sp. PI. 35. 1753. 



Low annual glandular-puberulent diffusely branched herbs, with small subulate or 

 setaceous stipulate leaves and very small sessile flowers, solitary or glomerate in the axils. 

 Sepals S, rigid, keeled, acuminate or awn-tipped, the outer ones commonly with a tooth on 

 each side. Petals 3-5, minute or wanting. Stamens 3-5, perigynous. Ovary triangular- 

 pyramidal, i-celled, many-ovuled. Capsule 3-valved. Seeds oblong or obovate, attached 

 near their bases; embryo somewhat curved; cotyledons accumbent. [In honor of Peter 



Loefling, 1729-1756, Swedish traveler.] 



About 5 species, natives of southwestern North America, 

 the Mediterranean region and central Asia. Besides the 

 following, 2 others occur in the southwestern United States. 

 Type species : Loeflingia hispanica L. 



I. Loeflingia texana Hook. Texan Loeflingia. 

 Fig. 1798. 



Loeflingia texana Hook. Ic. PI. 3: pi. 275. 1840. 



Finely and densely glandular-puberulent, stems 

 much branched, bushy, 3-6' high, the branches slender, 

 terete, ascending or those bearing flowers secund and 

 recurved. Leaves subulate, 2"-3" long, appressed- 

 ascending; flowers less than i" broad; sepals nearly or 

 quite straight, the 3 outer ones or all with a setaceous 

 tooth on each side ; petals much shorter than the sepals ; 

 stamens usually 3; capsule shorter than the calyx; seeds 

 obovate. 



In dry soil Nebraska to Texas. April-June. 



