SAGINA 
2 9 
Series iii. Procumbentes 
Procumbentes nobis. For characters, see p. 24. 
British species of Procumbentes 
[S. boydi (see below). Very densely tufted. Internodes very short. Leaves crowded, not 
mucronate. Pedicels about 1 mm. long. Capsule globose, with sepals more or less erect.] 
5. S. procumbens (see below). Laxly tufted. Leaves mucronate. Pedicels about 1 — 2 cm. 
long. Capsule ovoid, with spreading sepals. 
[SAGINA BOYDI. Plate 27] 
Sagina boydi 1 White in Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinb. xvii, 33 (1887); in Journ. Bot. xxx, 227 (1892). 
leones : — Journ. Bot. xxx, t. 326 B. 
Camb. Brit. Ft. iii. Plate 27. (a) Portions of a single tuft, (b) Leaves (enlarged), (c) Flowers (enlarged). 
Cambridge Botanic Garden : plant originally sent there by Mr Boyd (R. I. L.). 
Perennial, very densely tufted. Shoot glabrous. Internodes very short. Leaves crowded, re- 
curved. Pedicels rigid, about 1 mm. long. Flowers pentamerous or tetramerous, about 3 — 5 mm. 
in diameter. Petals absent. Stigmas very short. Capsule globose, not longer than the calyx, 
with sepals more or less erect. Seeds minute. 
Only once found (probably in Braemar, Aberdeenshire), by Mr W. B. Boyd, in 1878. It “was collected among 
a number of other specimens, not attracting notice until the collections were planted out on Mr Boyd’s return home. He 
does not remember gathering it ; and the exact locality is therefore doubtful ; but his impression is that it was obtained upon 
Ben A’an, a hill in the deer-forest of Invercauld, somewhat difficult of access” {Journ. Bot. xxx, 226 (1892)). 
Aberdeenshire. Not known elsewhere. 
5. SAGINA PROCUMBENS. Pearlwort. Plate 28 
Saxifraga anglicana Johnson Kent 2 (1629); Alsinella muscosa Jlore repens Dillenius Cat. Giss. 81 (1719). 
Ray Syn. ed. 3, 345 (1724). 
Sagina procumbens L. Sp. PI. 128 (1753) excl. vars. ; Smith Ft. Brit. 199 (1800)!; Syme Eng. Bot. 
ii, 120 (1864); Rouy et Foucaud Ft. France iii, 285 (1896). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Ft. t. 880; Curtis Ft. Lond. i, 35; Reichenbach Icon, v, t. 201, fig. 4959. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 28. (a) Whole plant (a shade form), (b) Leaves (the ciliate form) (enlarged). 
a from Perthshire (C. E. M.). b from W. R. Yorkshire, sent as var. spinosa (J. N.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 2633, et 2633 bis; Bourgeau {PI. d'Esp.), 1327; Fries, xv, 45, as S. procumbens var. 
fontana ; v. Heurck, i, 40, as S. procumbens var. intermedia ; Huter {Iter Hisp.), 98 7; Herb. Ft. Ingric. i, 120. 
Perennial, laxly tufted. Shoot glabrous or almost glabrous. Primary rosettes stronger and 
more vigorous than in the other species, with leaves up to about 3 cm. long. Flowering branches 
eventually decumbent, with leaves about half as long as those of the central rosette, some of 
the axillary buds giving rise to secondary rosettes which lie on the ground and take root and 
then become detached from the parent plant. Leaves glabrous or minutely ciliate, mucronate. 
Pedicels from 1 — 2 cm. long. Flowers usually tetramerous, rarely pentamerous, appearing almost all 
the year round. Petals absent, rudimentary, or minute ; obtuse, and only about a third or a quarter 
as long as the sepals. Stamens n or 2 n. Capsules about as long as the calyx, with spreading 
sepals. Seeds minutely punctate. 
The apetalous form has been named S. procumbens var. apetala (Fenzl in Ledebour FI. Ross, i, 339 (1842)), and the 
form with petals S. procumbens var. corallina (Fenzl loc. cit.). A form with double flowers occasionally occurs (see Journ. 
Bot. 1 , 288 (1912)), and was figured by Baxter {Brit. Phaen. Bot. iii, t. 199 (1837)). The form with leaves minutely ciliate 
was named var. spinosa [sic] by Gibson. 
Rather damp places and more rarely in wet places on siliceous grassland, walls, garden-paths, 
lawns, and waste places. Very common, throughout the British Islands, ascending to about 1000 m. 
in Perthshire ( fide White FL Perthshire 86 (1898)). 
Faeroes, Iceland, Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe 
(recorded up to 2600 m.); Russia, southern Europe; northern Africa; Asia; America (including 
Greenland). 
1 After Mr W. B. Boyd. 
