SPERGULA 
i5 
I. POLYCARPON TETRAPHYLLUM. Allseed 1 . Plate 13 
Anthyllis marina incana alsinifolia Johnson in Gerard’s Herball ed. 2, 632 (1636). 
Polycarpon tetraphyllum L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 881 (1759)!; Sp. PI. ed. 2, 131 (1762); Hudson FI. 
Angl. ii, 60 (1778); Smith FI. Brit. 162 (1800)!; Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 133 (1864); Rou y FI. France iii, 312 (1896); 
Mollugo tetraphylla L. Sp. PI. 89 ( 1 75 3 )- 
I cones : — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 1031; Sibthorp and Smith FI. Graec. ii, t. 102. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate ij. (a) Flowering shoot of the lax form. ( b ) Flowers (one enlarged), (e) Ovary 
(enlarged). Dorset (W. B. B.). ( d ) Flowering shoot of the dense form. Jersey (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 1196; Durieu (PI. Sel. Hisp.-Lus.), 357; Reichenbach, 1265; A. Schultz (FI. Istr.), 57, 
as P. tetraphyllum var. maritimmn ; Schultz, i, 53 ; i, 53 bis, as P. tetraphyllum forma minor condensata ; Welwitsch 
(FI. Lusit.), 748, 1 1 12. 
Annual. Shoot glabrous, about 1 — 2 cm. Stem much branched from the base, erect or decumbent, 
branches divaricate. Stipules ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, scarious. Petioles very short. Leaves oboval 
to oval-oblong, lower ones and upper ones opposite and in pairs, the median ones often in fours, 
rarely all opposite Brae ts very small. Pedicels longer than the calyx. Flowers about 3 mm. in diameter, 
very numerous; June to October. Sepals ovate, with scarious margins, mucronulate. Petals greenish- 
white, usually emarginate, shorter than the sepals, not contiguous, 
rarely absent. Stamens 3 — 5, usually 3. Capsule globose, shorter 
than the sepals. Seeds reniform, very small, finely rugose, brown. 
Two forms occur in Jersey: these are probably (a) var. laxum and (b) var. densum 
of Rouy et Foucaud op. cit. p. 312. See Plate 13. Mr H. W. Pugsley (in Journ. Bot. 
Iii, 329) identifies the latter with P. tetraphyllum var. diphyllum DC. Prodr. iii, 376 = 
P. diphyllum Cavanilles leones et Descr. PI. ii, 40, t. 151, fig. 1. The former has larger 
leaves which are more or less apparently tetramerous ; and the internodes are longer. 
The latter is smaller, has shorter branches, often opposite leaves, and fewer and more 
densely arranged and rather larger flowers. 
Dry sandy ground and waste places near the sea, sand- 
dunes ; Channel Isles, Dorset, Devonshire, and Cornwall. 
Germany (central and southern), France (including northern 
France), central and southern Europe; northern Africa; Asia Minor to Persia; East Indies; New 
Holland, and southern Africa (? indigenous) ; America (not indigenous). 
Tribe II. SPERGUEEAE 
Sperguleae Bartling in Bartling and Wendland Beitr. ii, 158 (1825) emend.; Grenier et Godron FI. 
France i, 274 (1848). 
For characters, see page 14. 
Genera of Sperguleae 
Genus 2. Spergula (see below). Leaves apparently whorled. Petals white. Stigmas 5. 
Genus 3. Spergularia (p. 17). Leaves not apparently whorled. Petals usually lilac or purplish- 
pink. Stigmas 3. 
Genus 2. Spergula 
Spergula [Dillenius App. Cat. Giss. 131, t. 7 (1719);] L. Sp. PI. 440 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 199 (1754) 
partim ; Presl FI. Sic. 159 (1826); Fenzl in Endlicher Gen. PI. 962 (1836 — 1840); Pax in Engler und Prantl 
Pfianzenfam. iii, pt. 1 b, 85 (1889). 
Annual herbs. Leaves linear or filiform, verticilloid owing to the non-development of the 
internodes of the axillary branches 2 . Sepals 5, margin membranous. Petals 5, white, entire. 
Stamens 5 or 5 + 5. Stigmas 5, alternisepalous. Teeth of capsule short, antisepalous. 
2 or 3 species ; cosmopolitan. Only British species : — .S’, arvensis. 
1 This name is also in use for Chenopodium polyspermum (Volume II, page 155). 
2 Cf. Russel in Bull. Soc. Bot. France xxxvi, 424 (1889). 
