Arenaria.'] XII. CARYOPHYLLACE^. 87 



VI. ARENARIA. SANDWORT. 



Small, branched annuals, or tufted or prostrate perennials, glabrous, 

 or rarely shortly hairy, with white flowers. Sepals 5. Petals 5, entire, 

 rarely wanting. Stamens 10, or rarely fewer. Styles 3, very rarely 4. 

 Capsule opening in as many or twice as many valves. 



A very numerous genus in the northern hemisphere without the tropics, 

 with a few species also in the southern hemisphere ; distinguished from 

 Sagina by the number of styles, from Cerastium and Stellariahy the entire 

 petals. The British species are usually distributed into four sections, 

 often considered as independent genera, viz., Alsine, with the valves of 

 the capsule as many as the styles, and many seeds, including A. verna, A. 

 uliginosa, and A. tenuifolia; Honclcenya, with the capsular valves as many 

 as the styles, and few large seeds, for A. peploides ; Arenaria. with the 

 capsular valves twice as many, and no appendage to the seeds, including 

 A. ciliata and A. serpyllifolia and Mcehringia, with the capsule of Arenaria, 

 but with shining seeds, having a little appendage to their hilum. 



Leaves linear or subulate. 

 Tufted perennials. 



Petals minute or 1. A. Cherleri. 



Petals equalling or exceeding the sepals. 



Pedicels 2 to 4 lines long 2. A. verna. 



Pedicels 6 or 12 lines long or more 3. A. uliginosa. 



Annual. Petals about half as long as the sepals . . . 4. A. tenuifolia. 



Leaves ovate. 

 Leaves thick and fleshy. Capsules large, globular, 5-valved . 5. A. peploides. 

 Leaves small or thin. Capsule 10-valved, small. 

 Leaves scarcely 2 lines long. Sepals with 3 nerves. 

 Annual, much branched, and downy. Petals shorter or 



scarcely longer "than the calyx 6. A. serpyllifolia. 



Alpine, procumbent, perennial. Petals much longer than 



the calyx 1. A. ciliata. 



Leaves mostly half an inch, thin, and 3-nerved. Sepals 1- 



nerved . 8. A. trinervis. 



1. A. Cherleri, Benth. (fig. 150). Cyphel. — Stock very densely 

 matted, often several inches diameter, with long roots, the very short 

 branches completely covered with closely packed linear leaves, rather 

 stiff, and 2 or 3 lines long. Pedicels slender, from the summit of the 

 tufts, with a single erect flower. Sepals about a line long, with 3 

 prominent veins. Stamens shorter than the calyx. Capsule slightly 

 protruding, opening to the base in 3 valves, and containing but few 

 seeds. Oherleria sedoides, Linn. 



An alpine plant, not uncommon at considerable elevations in the 

 Pyrenees and Alps, extending to Greece and Transylvania, and reappear- 

 ing in the Scotch Highlands, especially in the Breadalbane range, and in 

 Sutherland, but neither an Arctic nor a Scandinavian plant. Fl. summer. 



2. A. verna, Linn. (fig. 151). Vernal S. — Stock perennial, short, 

 becoming densely tufted and thickly covered with old leaves ; the flower- 

 ing stems erect or decumbent, 2 to 4 inches high, and branched. Leaves 

 subulate, rather stiff, the upper ones short and broader. Flowers in 

 rather loose forked cymes, the pedicels usually slightly downy, and 

 seldom above 3 or 4 lines long. Sepals 1J to near 2 lines long, pointed, 

 with 3 very prominent nerves. Petals obovate, spreading beyond the 

 points of the sepals. Capsule 3-valved, Alsine verna, Wahlb. 



In stony or mountain pastures, almost all over the continent of Europe 



