arexaria. CARYOPHYLLACEvE. 87 



ALSINELLA. 



capsule but little longer than the sepals: seeds turgid minutely rugose tuber- 

 eulate. On rocks, Columbia river below the Cascades. 



A. stricta Michx. Fl. i, 274. Diffusely cespitose, glabrous, branching 

 from the base: stems 3-15 inches high : leaves subulate-setaceous. 1-3-nerved, 

 many, fascicled in the axils : petals oblong-obovate twice the length of the 

 rigid, ovate, very acute 3-ribbed sepals: capsule about as long as the calyx. 

 On rocks and sandy ridges, Columbia river below the Cascades: also on the 

 Atlantic coast. 



* * * Closely tufted perennials: sepals acuminate but not strongly 

 nerved, except in A. propinqua. 



A. propinqua Richardson in Franklin Journ. 738. A verna rar. hirta 

 Watson Bot. King 41. Closely tufted : stems, peduncles and calyx finely 

 glandular- pubescent: leaves nearly or quite smooth: stems tufted, numer- 

 ous, slender, ascending or erect, 1-5 inches high, 1 -several-flowered; leaves 

 linear-subulate, flat, obtuse, 3-nerved, usually erect, not squarrose: pedun- 

 cles filiform: sepals ovate-oblong, acutish to acuminate, l%-2 lines long ex- 

 ceeding the obovate or oblauceolate petals: capsule surpassing the sepals, 

 On the highest mountains, Oregon to Alaska and the Rocky Mountains. 



A. Nuttallii Pax in Engler, Jahresb. xviii. 30. A. pungens Nutt in T. <£ 

 G. Fl. i, 179 (not of Clem.). Pubescent throughout: extensively cespitose 

 stems numerous 2-4 inches high, leaves linear-subulate, half to iwo inches 

 long, pungent, crowded: flowers in an open cyme, leafy bracted: sepals lan- 

 ceolate, acuminate, pungent 1-3 lines long 3-nerved: petals about equalling 

 the calyx: the capsule shorter: seeds very few, smooth. In mountainous dis- 

 tricts, California and Nevada to Oregon and Colorado. 



* * * * Densely cespitose perennials with acicular or subulate 

 leaves and oblong or linear-oblong, very obtuse sepals. 



n- Petals oblong or narrowly obovate. 

 A. Sajanensis Willd. in Schlecht. Berl. Mag. Natf. (1816) 200. Gla- 

 brous, or the inflorescence glandular: stems simple, usually 1 -flowered: 

 leaves linear subulate, obtuse thickish, 3-nerved: petals obtuse, about half* 

 longer than the oblong sepals. Alpine, Mounts Hood, and Adams to the 

 Rocky Mountains and Alaska. 



+- +- Petals broadly obovate, much exceeding the calyx. 

 A. arctiea i Q tev. in D. C. Prodr. i. 404. Stems 1-3 inches high, often 

 scarcely exceeding the leaves: leaves linear-subulate, obtuse fleshy, minutely 

 ciliate; peduncles glandular-pubescent 1-rarely 2 or 3 flowered; petals about 

 twice longer than the very obtuse 1-nerved P^pals. Arctic Coast, perhaps 

 on our northern border. 



8 ALSINELLA Dill. 

 S AGIN A L. Gen. v. 176. 



Low herbs with subulate or filiform leaves without stipules, 

 and small terminal usually long-peduncled flowers. Sepals 4-5, 

 Petals as many as sepals, entire or slightly emarginate, often 

 minute or wanting. Stamens as many as petals, rarely twice as 

 many or fewer. Ovary 1 -celled, many-ovuled. Styles as many 

 as sepals and alternate with them. Capsule dehiscent to the 

 base by as many entire valves as sepals and alternate with them. 



A. oecidentalis Greene Fl. "Francis. 125. Sagina occidentalis Watson. 

 Annual: glabrous or nearly so: diffusely branched from the base : stems very 

 slender, 1-6 inches long, decumbent at base or ascending: well developed, 



