SPERGULARIA 
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( b ) S. arvensis var. vulgaris Mertens und Koch Deutschl. FI. iii, 360 (1831); Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 127 (1864); 
Rouy et Foucaud FI. France iii, 296 (1896); 6". pentandra Smith FI. Brit. 503 (1800) excl. syn., non L. ! ; S', arvensis 
var. /3 Smith Eng. FI. ii, 336 (1824); S. vulgaris Boenninghausen Prodr. FI. Monost. 135 (1824); S. arvensis 
var. trachysperma Neilreich FI. N.-Ost. 781 (1859). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 1535, as S. arvensis ; Curtis FI. Lond. ii, 91, as S. arvensis) FI. Dan. t. 1033, 
as S. arvensis) Svensk Bot. t. 308, as S. arvensis) Reichenbach Icon. Crit. t. 511, fig. 705, as S. vulgaris. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 14. ( a ) Flowering shoot, (b) Open fruit. ( c ) Seeds (enlarged). Jersey (E. W. H.). 
Shoot usually hairy but not viscous. Stamens usually less than 10. Seeds not or only obscurely 
winged, with prominent scattered white papillae when fresh, changing to black as the seed dries. 
This variety seems to hybridise with var. sativa , for plants with mixed characters occur (e.g., in Cambridgeshire) when 
the two grow together. It may be that the confusion of the seeds in the plates of Eng. Bot. (in all the editions) is due 
to this circumstance. 
Arable land ; locally abundant in England, from the Channel Isles, Cornwall, and Kent northwards to 
Lancashire and Yorkshire; also recorded for Perthshire and Aberdeenshire; Ireland — co. Galway and co. Mayo. 
Large forms may be named var. vulgaris subvar. maxima Rouy et Foucaud op. cit. p. 297 (= S. maxima [Weihe in litt., 
ex] Boenninghausen Prodr. FI. Monast. 136 (1824)). This subvariety is figured in Reichenbach Icon. Crit. t. 513, fig. 706, 
as 5 . maxima. The specimen figured in our own plate seems to belong to this subvariety. 
Denmark, Germany, France, central Europe, southern Europe ; Asia ; Africa ; America ; Australia. 
(c) S. arvensis var. nana Linton in Journ. Bot. xlv, 380 (1907). 
leones: — Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 15. (a, b) Plants with ripening fruits. ( c ) Capsule (enlarged), (d) Seeds 
(enlarged). Guernsey (E. D. M.). 
Ephemeral. Stems several, 2^5 — 15*0 cm. long, prostrate or decumbent. Leaves about 3 — 13 mm. 
long, rigid. Pedicel of the lower flowers about twice as long as the capsule. Flowers — late March 
to early May. Sepals broadly oval to oblong, obtuse, glandular-pubescent. Stamens 5, antisepalous. 
Capsules subglobose, up to about 3^5 mm. in diameter. Seeds densely papillose and rimmed as in 
var. vulgaris (Koch), but smaller; May. 
Indigenous on light soils near the sea in the Channel Isles, growing with Mibora , Romulea, and other 
ephemeral and geophilous plants. 
S. arvensis is a common weed of arable land on sandy soils, rare or absent on clayey and 
calcareous soils; throughout the British Islands, but local and rare in central Ireland. In Great 
Britain, var. sativa occurs from Cornwall and Kent to Zetland, var. vulgaris from the Channel 
Isles, Cornwall, and Kent to Aberdeenshire, being local in Scotland, and var. nana in Jersey and 
Guernsey on sand dunes and on light soils generally near the sea. 
Faeroes, Iceland, Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe 
(ascending to 2309m. in Switzerland), Russia, southern Europe; Africa; Asia; America and 
Australia (not indigenous). 
Genus 3. Spergularia 
Spergularia [Persoon Syn. i, 504 (1805) as a section;] J. S. et C. B. Presl FI. Cechia g^ (\Sig)) Bentham 
and Hooker Gen. Plant, i, 152 (1862); Lebel in Mem. Soc. Sc. Nat. Cherbourg xiv, 30 (1868); nomen conser- 
vatum ; Arenaria L. loc. cit. pro min. parte ; Alsine [Tournefort loc. cit., pro min. parte ;] Crantz loc. cit., pro 
min. parte; Hiern in Journ. Bot. xxxvii, 317 (1899); nec Scopoli ; Stipularia Haworth Syn. PI. Succ. 103 
(1812) non Beauvois ; Lepidogonum Wimmer Schles. FI. i, 78 (1841); Lepigonum [sic] Fries [A/. Halland. 159 
(1817 — 1818) as a section; Wahlberg FI. Gothob. 45 (1820) nomen;] FI. Suec. Mant. iii, 32 (1842); Kindberg 
Syn. Lepigon } 3 (1856); Monogr. Lepigon. 2 6 (1863); Buda [Adanson Fam. PI. ii, 507 (1763) inch Tissa)\ 
Dumortier FI. Belg. no (1829); Tissa [Adanson loc. cit., inch Buda) ] Pax in Engler und Prantl PJlanzenfam. 
iii, pt. 1 b, 85 (1889); Corion [Mitchell in Act. Pkys.-Med. Acad. Nat. Cur. Norimberg. viii, app. 218 (1748);] 
Britton in Journ. Bot. xxix, 303 (1891); N. E. Brown in Eng. Bot. ed. 3, supph, 47 (1891). 
Perennial or annual herbs. Leaves opposite, not apparently whorled. Sepals 5, with scarious 
margins. Petals 5, lilac or purplish-pink, rarely white. Stamens usually 10 or 5, rarely fewer. 
Stigmas usually 3. Capsule splitting almost to the base, valves remaining entire. 
We have given the synonymy of the generic name with exceptional fulness, as it illustrates the inconclusive attempts 
to arrive at a definite conclusion on the part of those systematists who place the principle of priority before everything 
else in the determination of generic names. If priority alone be taken into account in determining generic names, it 
would appear that the genus should be named Corion, as this was described by Mitchell in 1748. If pre-1753 names 
M. III. 
1 Dissertatio academica, Upsala. 
2 In Nov. Act. Reg. Soc. Sc. Up sal. ser. 3, iv. 
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