STEEL ART A. 
59 
6-valved ovate-elongate or conic-acuminate shorter than the 
sep. Seeds minute tumid-reniform dark brown granulated. 
8. Steel aria L. 
1. S. MEDIA (L.) With. Common Chickweed. 
St. prostrate ascending flaccid cespitose dichotomous hairy 
on alternate sides between the j oints ; 1. ovate acute or shortly 
acuminate stalked, the uppermost sessile ; fl. axillary and ter- 
minal single on long stalks which are hairy on one side ; pet. 
deeply cloven not longer than the lanceolate 1-nerved glandular- 
hairy sep. ; fruitstalks deflexed ; caps, oblong rounded at the 
base a little longer than the sep., 6-partite or with the’ valves 
cloven below the middle. — EB. t. 537 ; Sm. E. Fl. ii. 301 \ DC. 
i. 396 Presl 160 •, WB. i. 152 ; Koch 129 ; Bab. 53. Alsine 
media (L.) Desf. i. 271 ; Brot. i. 476. — Herb. ann. Mad. reg. 
1, 2, 3, ccc ; PS. reg. 2, 3, c. One of the commonest weeds in 
Mad., about Funchal, and in cultivated ground, everywhere ; less 
common in PS., and not observed in the Dezertas. Nov.- June 
chiefly. — Herbage very variable in size and luxuriance light or 
y. gr. tender succulent or juicy. St. very numerous matted 
leafy often elongate 6-12 in. long. Petioles broad ciliate. L. 
smooth. Fl. small white. Stam. 3-10 generally 5 ; in richer 
or moister soil 10, the whole pi. being larger and more robust 
with the sep. smooth, constituting var. /3 major Koch, or y 
umbrosa (Opitz) Bab. 1. c. 
2. S. uliginosa Murr. 
St. diffuse 4-angular smooth, 1. sessile ovate or oblong-lan- 
ceolate with a callous tip smooth ciliated at the base ; cymes 
dichotomous small few-flowered lateral and terminal, br. sca- 
rious smooth at the edges ; pet. bipartite shorter than the lan- 
ceolate 3-nerved sep. ; caps, ovate attenuated at the base about 
equal to the sep. — Brot. ii. 196 ; EB. t. 1074 ; Sm. E. Fl. ii. 
303 ; Koch 131 ; Bab. 54. S. aquatica DC. i. 398. Larbrea 
aquatica (St. Hil.) DC. iii. 366, (not of Ser. in DC. i. 395). 
Arenaria alsinoides Raddi, Breve Osserv. sull’ Isola Madera 
(Firenze 1821) p. 13 (with apetalous fl.). A. Haddiana (Ser.) 
DC. i. 412. — Herb. ann. Mad. reg. 2, 3 ; ccc. Wet sandy or 
muddy places chiefly in beds of ravines everywhere above 
1500 ft. May-July chiefly. — Whole pi. nearly or quite smooth 
pale gr. often slightly glaucous. St. numerous branched and 
matted jointed trailing often rooting at the lower joints, 6-18 
in. long. Ped. axillary mostly 1-3-flowered. Fl. small incon- 
spicuous, often apetalous. Sep. very narrow acuminate spread- 
ing like a star in fl., afterwards erect. Pet. caducous very small 
white not half the length of the sep. — A bad but undoubted 
Mad. specimen of this pi. in the BH., marked u S. graminea L. ?” 
