Corrigiola. | LXI, ILLECEBRACEA. 369 
I, CORRIGIOLA, CORRIGIOLE. 
Annuals, with alternate leaves, and small white flowers in terminal cymes. 
Calyx of 5 divisions. Petals 5, oblong or oval. Stamens 5. Stigmas 3, 
sessile. Seed solitary, in a small nut, enclosed in the calyx. 
Besides the British species there are two or three others in southern 
Kurope, Africa, and South America, all seacoast plants. 
1, ©. littoralis, Linn. (fig. 832). Sand Corrigiole, Strapwort.— Stems 
numerous, procumbent or ascending, slightly branched, slender, and glabrous. 
Leaves linear or oblong, obtuse, tapering at the base, with a minute 
scarious stipule on each side. Flowers crowded in little heads or cymes at 
the ends of the branches; the white, ovate or oblong petals barely pro- 
truding beyond the calyx, whose divisions however are white and petal-like 
on the margin, and green in the centre only. Nuts enclosed, when ripe, in 
the scarcely enlarged calyx. 
On the sandy seashores of western and southern Europe, and northern 
Africa, extending sparingly into the east Mediterranean region, and western 
Asia, occurring here and there more inland in west-central Europe. In 
Britain, confined to the coasts of Devon and Cornwall. £7. summer and 
autumn. 
Il. HERNIARIA. HERNIARY. 
Herbs, either annual or with a perennial stock of short duration ; with 
prostrate, much branched, annual stems; opposite leaves; very minute, 
scarcely visible scarious stipules ; and small, green, granular flowers, crowded 
in little axillary cymes. Calyxof 5 divisions. Stamens 5, alternating with 
5 small filaments. Stigmas 2. Seed solitary, in a thin, indehiscent cap- 
sule enclosed in the calyx. 
A genus of very few species, all growing in sandy places, chiefly near the 
sea, in southern Europe, central Asia, and Africa. 
1. H. glabra, Linn. (fig. 833). Common Herniary, Rupture-wort.— 
_ The very much branched stems spread along the ground to the length ef 
a few inches, and are usually crowded from the base with their little green 
flowers intermixed with small, opposite, oblong, obovate, or rarely orbicular 
leaves. The whole plant is glabrous, with the exception of a few usually 
recurved hairs at the edge of the leaves. 
In sandy places, in temperate and southern Europe and Russian Asia, 
extending into Scandinavia, but not to high latitudes. In Britain, it occurs 
in several counties of southern and central England. £7. summer. It 
varies with the clusters of flowers all crowded into a leafy spike, or, in H. 
ciliata, Bab., the lower ones separated by considerable intervals. 
[H. hirsuta, Linn., distinguished by having narrow hirsute leaves, is a 
very common continental and west Asiatic species, and has lately been 
found near Christchurch, in Hampshire. ] 
Ill. ILLECEBRUM. ILLECEBRUM. 
Calyx of 5 thickish white divisions, hooded at the top, with a subulate 
point. Stamens 5, alternating with 5 small filaments. Stigmas 2, sessile. 
Bb 
