156 CABYOPHYLLACBAE. 



Prostrate perennials. 



Steins long and somewhat Btraggling, from a matted or tufted center, flowering from 



the middle t«> the ends <>f the branches 2. S. rubra. 



Plants matted; flowers mostly at the ends of the branches 3. 6'. clevelandii. 



Nearly or quite erect annuals 4. S. solum. 



1. S. macrotheca (Hornem.) Eeynh. Stems stout, 7 to L2 in. high, 

 rivet or ascending from the short, often branched, woody crown of a very 

 thick and fleshy taproot; herbage deep green and viscid-pubescent; leaves 



narrowly linear, 1 to 1% in. long; pedicels 3 to (3 lines long; sepals 3 to 4 

 lines long, scarions-margined; petals as long, pink; capsule about equaling 

 calyx; seeds with or without a wing, even in the same capsule. — (Tissa macro- 

 theca Britt.) 



Sandy borders of salt marshes, common about San Francisco Bay. Var. 

 leucantha Eobinson. Glabrous except a glandular pubescence on the looser 

 inflorescence; flowers commonly white. — Alkaline plains of the Sacramento 

 southward to the Livermore Valley and the San Joaquin. May- June. Var, 

 scariosa (Britt.) Robinson. Herbage pale, glandular-pubescent or almost 

 glabrous; internodes short; stipules ovate, acuminate, 4 to 5 lines long; flowers 

 scattered and on pedicels % in. long or less, or in reduced terminal cymes. — Sea- 

 bluffs, San Francisco to Monterey. 



2. S. rubra (L.) J. & C. Presl. var. perannans Robinson. Stems 4 to 9 

 in. long, slender and wiry, many from a densely tufted base, branching little, 

 flowering from about the middle; herbage comparatively glabrous; leaves nar- 

 rowly linear, 5 lines long or less; stipules ovate, silvery-scarious, 2 lines long, 

 very conspicuous; pedicels slender, 2 to 4 lines long; sepals oblong, acute, 2 

 lines long; petals reddish, about equaling the sepals; capsule not exserted from 

 the calyx; seeds with a marginal elevation. — (Tissa rubra Britt. var. perennans 

 < hreene.) 



Beaten paths and by roadsides: Sacramento Valley; North Coast Ranges; 

 Berkeley. May. Introduced from Europe, spreading slowly, but more com- 

 mon than ten years since. 



3. S. clevelandii (Greene) Robinson. Perennial with prostrate steins 

 forming deep green mats 5 to 13 in. broad; herbage viscid-glandular; leaves 

 filiform, conspicuously fascicled in the axils, ascending, all longer than the 

 internodes; flowers in terminal cymes; corolla 3 to 4 lines broad, white; seeds 

 winged or not winged, even in the same pod. — (Tissa clevelandii Greene.) 



Sandy soil near the ocean: San Diego northward to San Francisco. 



4. S. salina J. & C. Presl. Branching, erect or sometimes diffuse and 

 prostrate, the stems 3 to 8 in. long; leaves narrowly linear, commonly shorter 

 than the internodes; pedicels leafy-bracted or the upper bractless, not ex- 

 ceeding the capsules; sepals oblong-ovate, obtuse, scarious -margined, 2 lines 

 long; capsule acute, longer than the calyx. — (Tissa salina Britt.) 



Alkaline plains of the Sacramento ami San Joaquin westward to the salt 

 marshes near the coast. May-Aug. 



Var. involucrata Jepson, n. comb. Seads of closely aggregated flowers 

 subtended by 2 to several foliaceous bracts. — Mt. Eden; Newark (S. tenuis 

 var. involucrata Robinson). 



Var. tenuis Jepson, n. comb. Dichotomously and copiously branched, 

 the branches slender and internodes long; flowers very numerous, short-pedi- 

 eeled, the uppermost sessile in close gTOUOS; Stamens 2 to 5j capsule twice as 



as ill'' ovate-oblong sepals. Rarely collected: Alameda; Hollister. Apr. 



(Tissa tenuis Greene.) 





