ILLECEBREAE 
9 
2. SCLERANTHUS ANNUUS. Knawel. Plate 7 
Polygonum selino'ides Gerard Herball 453 ( 1 597) > Saxifraga anglicana alsines minimum genus daleschampi 
polygonum selino'ides gerardi Johnson Kent 2 (1629); Polygonum exiguum Ray Cat. Cantab. 121 (1660); Knawel 
Ray Syn. ed. 3, 159 (1724). 
Scleranthus annuus L. Sp. PI. 406 (1753)!; Smith Eng. Bot. no. 351 (1796); FI. Brit. 458 (1800)!; 
Eng. Bot. no. 351 (1796); Eng. FI. ii, 282 (1824) ; Syme Eng. Bot. vii, 181 (1867) ; Rouy FI. France xii, 14 (1910). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 351 ; FI. Dan. t. 504; Baxter, Phaen. Bot. vi, 439. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 7. ( a ) Plant in Flower, {b) Perianths (one enlarged). Jersey (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Bourgeau {PI. d’Esp.), 1342; Durieu, 338; Huter, 740, as S', annuus forma; Reichenbach, 283; 
Todaro, 488 ; Wirtgen, 294 a, as S. intermedius ; Herb. FI. Ingric. ii, 240. 
Annual or biennial. Shoot subglaucous, erect or decumbent or prostrate. Leaves linear, 
connate, acute. Flowers 3 — 4 mm. in diameter ; April to October. Perianth glabrous, segments 
acute, green with a narrow, pale border, spreading even after flowering. Stamens 1 — 10 usually 3 — 5. 
(/3) forma hibernus comb. nov. ; S. annuus var. hibernus Reichenbach FI. Excurs. Germ. 565 (1832); Rouy 
FI. France xii, 15 (1910); S. annuus subsp. biennis FYies FI. Scan. 118 (1835); S. biennis Reuter in Compt- 
Rend. Soc. Haller. 20 (1852 — 3); S. annuus var. biennis Syme Eng. Bot. vii, 182 (1867); S. annuus var. fascicu- 
latus Gillot et Coste in Bull. Soc. Bot. France xxxviii, p. cxxvii (1891). 
leones: — Syme Eng. Bot. vii, t. 1175, as S. annuus var. biennis. This figure, like many others in the third 
edition of the English Botany , is very schematic : the illustrations of the original edition of the English 
Botany are much more life-like. 
Exsiccata: — Billot, 3382, 3382 bis, as S. biennis ; Fries, xii, 61, as S. annuus subsp. biennis ; Huter, 741, 
as S. biennis. 
Biennial. Shoot prostrate. Sepals with the scarious margin rather broader than in the annual form. 
Grassy heaths and arable land, much scarcer than the annual form ; Kent, Suffolk, Norfolk, Perthshire, 
and doubtless elsewhere. 
Europe. 
Locally abundant as a weed on light, dry, sandy or gravelly soils in arable land and waste 
places, and rare on grassy heaths ; absent only from the extreme north of Great Britain ; wide- 
spread in Ireland, but there, as in Great Britain, avoiding heavy or markedly calcareous soils. 
Southern Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe (up 
to 2000m.), Russia, southern Europe; northern Africa; Asia; North America (not indigenous). 
Subfamily 2. / LLECEBROI DEA E 
Illecebroideae nobis; Paronychio'ideae Ascherson und Graebner FI. Nordost. Flachl. 316 (1898); Herni- 
ariineae Rouy FI. France xii, 2 (1910). 
For characters, see page 7. 
Tribes of Illecebroideae 
Tribe I. Illecebreae (see below). Leaves (at least the lower ones) opposite. Petals or 
staminodes setaceous. Stigmas 2. Pericarp membranous. Fruit indehiscent or dehiscent at the base. 
Tribe II. Corrigioleae (p. 12). Leaves all or mostly alternate. Petals (or staminodes ) white, 
oblong. Stigmas 3. Pericarp crustaceous. Fruit indehiscent. 
Tribe I. ILLECEBREAE 
Illecebreae DC. Prodr. iii, 367 (1828) emend.; Ascherson und Graebner FI. Nordost. Flachl. 316 (1898). 
For characters, see above. 
Genera of Illecebreae 
Genus 2. Herniaria (p. 10). Sepals green, obtuse, muticate. Staminodes or petals setaceous. 
Fruit indehiscent. Embryo annular. 
Genus 3. Illecebrum (p. 12). Sepals white, acuminate. Staminodes or petals with long 
acuminations. Fruit dehiscent below. Embryo almost straight. 
M. III. 
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