ROBINSON, — ALSINEA. 313 
Mey. 1. c. Spergularia rubra, Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 70. — Cali- 
fornia, chiefly on or near the coast. A polymorphous species, the 
varieties of which, although diverse in aspect, appear in a large series _ 
of specimens to be thoroughly connected by intermediates. 
Var. leucantha. Erect or nearly so, with long internodes: 
leaves somewhat narrower and more erect than in the type: floral 
bracts reduced and inflorescence more distinctly cymose; pedicels 
elongated, rather rigidly spreading or deflexed: corolla white, nearly 
6 lines in diameter. — Tissa leucantha, Greene, Fl. Francis. 127. — 
A variety of alkaline regions of the interior. A form from Vanden 
(Mrs. Brandegee), identical in habit and foliage, has magenta flowers. 
Var. scariosa. Low, pale, smoothish near the base, and often 
very glandular-viscid above, densely leafy; the internodes scarcely 
or not at all developed: leaves }—} inch long, acute; stipules con- 
spicuous, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 4-5 lines Jong: inflorescence 
racemiform ; pedicels not greatly exceeding the calyx. — Tissa macro- 
theca, var. scariosa, Britton, Bull. Torr. Club, xvi. 129. Tissa pallida, 
Greene ex Britton, l. c. xvi. 129; Fl. Francis. i. 127. — Coast at 
Monterey, California, 7% orrey ; Hooker & Gray, 1877; Gray, 1885; 
and at Fort Point, Brandegee. Tissa valida, Greene, Erythea, i. 107, 
appears to be a firmer and more erect form of the same thing, also 
pale and very viscid, but with more elongated internodes and dis- 
tinetly dichotomous cymose inflorescence. — Island of Santa Cruz, 
according to Professor Greene. 
SPERGULA, L. Spurry. (Name from the Latin spargere, to 
strew, in reference to the scattering of the numerous seeds.) — Annuals 
with narrowly linear slightly fleshy apparently whorled leaves; one 
Species common in America, having probably been introduced with 
grain from the Old World. — Gen. n. 375; Reichb. Iconogr. vi. 
t. 511-513, 
S. arvensis, L. A foot or two high: leaves numerous in rather 
remote whorls: inflorescence a terminal naked spreading cymose 
panicle ; pedicels often deflexed in fruit: petals white, equalling or 
slightly exceeding the sepals, 2-2} lines long: capsule ovate-globose ; 
seeds black minutely roughened with light-colored papilla, acutely 
edged but scarcely winged. — Spec. 440; Walt. Car. 142; Eng. Bot. 
xxii, t. 1535; Pursh, Fl. 320; Hook. Fl. Bor-Am. i. 92; Torr. & 
Gray, Fl. i. 174; Rothr. Pl. Alask, 444. _S. ramosissima, Dougl. ms. 
according to Torr. & Gray, l. ce. — Grain fields and cultivated grounds, 
common, United States and Canada, northward to Alaska, (Intro- 
duced from the Old World.) tk 
