l8o JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Description. — A minute evergreen perennial, creeping, mealy, 1-2 inches 
high. Stems wiry, bare, branched, branches many, ascending, very leafy. 
Leaves opposite, ovoid or sub-globose, J inch long, white-mealy, flushed red or 
purple, arranged in four close rows, alternate and usually not larger on the 
flowering shoots. Inflorescence small, few-flowered. Buds ovate, blunt. 
Flowers inch across, pedicels very slender, equallinglthe flowers. Sepals 
ovate-lanceolate, acute, fleshy, mealy, flushed red. Petals white, ovate, apiculate, 
3 times the sepals, with a strong red nerve on back. Stamens shorter than the 
Fig. 100. — 5. brevifoHum var. quinquefarium var. nov. 
petals, filaments white, anthers purple. Scales quadrate, yellow. Carpels 
white, erect, shorter than the stamens, erect also in fruit. 
Flowers July. Hardy if kept dry. 
Habitat. — South-west Europe, Morocco. 
Var. quinquefarium var. nov.* (fig. 100). 
Description. — Stem twice as thick and twice as long as in type. Leaves 
much larger, arranged in five spiral rows, ^ inch long on the barren stems, up 
to inch long on the flowering stems. Flowers as in the type. 
A very distinct-looking plant which, in the absence of floral 
differences, must be placed under brevifoHum. In its larger 5 -ranked 
* Caules quam in typo duplo crassiores et duplo longiores. Folia in quinque 
ordines spirales disposita, ea surculorum sterilium ad 5 mm. longa, ea surculorum 
floriferorum ad 8 mm. longa. 
