116 



THE PINK FAMILY. 



In a great variety of situations, but especially in waste or stony 

 places, wet or dry heaths, sandy marshes, etc., throughout Europe, in 

 Russian and central Asia, North America, Australia, etc. Abundant 

 in Britain. Fl.from spring till autumn. It varies considerably, and 

 has been divided into many supposed species. Small, slender, but lit- 

 tle-branched specimens, with the petals very minute or wanting, con- 

 stitute the S. apetala ; in the S. ciliata the branches are more diffuse. 

 A seacoast variety, called S. maritima (Eng. Bot. t. 2195), presents the 

 usual maritime differences of somewhat firmer and thicker stems and 

 leaves. 



2. Alpine Pearlwort. Sagina Linnsei, Presl. (Fig. 145.) 



(Spergula saginoides, Eng. Bot. t. 2105. Sagina saxatilis and 

 S. subulata, Brit. Fl.) 



Very near the procumbent P., but it 

 forms an undoubtedly perennial stock 

 (although often flowering the first year, 

 so as to appear annual), the radical leaves 

 are rather longer, the petals are more 

 conspicuous, usually considerably longer 

 than the sepals, and there are almost 

 always 5 sepals, 5 petals, 10 stamens, 

 and 5 styles and valves of the capsule. 



In mountain pastures, and stony places, 

 in Arctic and northern Europe, Asia, and 

 America, and in most mountain districts 

 of central and southern Europe to the 

 Caucasus, descending occasionally to 

 the seacoast in western Europe, when 

 it is very difficult to distinguish it from 

 the procumbent P. In Britain, in the 

 Scotch Highlands, in the west and south 

 Fig. 145. of England, and inlreland. FL summer. 



3. Knotted Pearlwort. Sagina nodosa, Fenzl. (Fig. 14G.) 



{Spergula, Eng. Bot. t. 694.) 



Like the last, this forms little perennial tufts, but as it often flowers 

 the first year, it then appears annual. Stems numerous, decumbent, 

 or nearly erect, 2 to 3 or rarely 4 inches high, and not much branched. 

 Lower leaves like those of the alpine P., or rather longer, but the 

 stem-leaves are much shorter, with little clusters of minute ones in their 



