32 
ALSINE 
S. apetala occurs in waste places on dry light soils, on grassy heaths, in arable land, and 
on the mortar of walls ; common throughout the lowlands of England, local to rare in Wales 
and Scotland ; northwards to Zetland, and throughout Ireland. 
Southern Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia, 
southern Europe ; northern Africa ; Asia ; America. 
Genus 5. Alsine 
Alsine L. Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 389 (1762) [non ed. 1, 272 (1753)] emend.; Crantz Inst, ii, 404 (1766) emend.; 
Gaertner Fruct. ii, 223, t. 129 (1791); Wahlenberg FI. Lapp. 127 (1812); Fenzl in Endlicher Gen. PI. 964 
(1836 — 1840); Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 107 (1864); Pax in Engler und Prantl Pflanzenfam. iii, 1 b, 82 (1889); 
Williams in Journ. Bot. xxxiv, 427 (1896); Rouy et Foucaud FI. France iii, 261 (1896); Moss in Journ. Bot. Iii, 
200 (1914); non Scopoli (1799) nec Hiern (1899) nec Schinz und Keller (1906); Minnartia [L. Sp. PI. 89 
( 1 75 3 ) emend.] Hiern in Journ. Bot. xxxvii, 320 (1899); H. and J. Groves in Babington’s Man. ed. 9, 51 (1904); 
Schinz und Keller FI. Schweiz ed. 3, 200 (1909); non aliorum. 
Small herbaceous perennials and annuals differing from Sagina in the oligomerous gynoecium 
and from Arenaria in the capsules dehiscing by the same number of teeth as there are stigmas. 
Our views on the thorny subject of the nomenclature of the genus Alsine were published in the Journal oj Botany 
for 1914 (pp. 196 — 201), and are here summarised. 
In the first edition of the Species Plantarum (1753) of Linnaeus, there are two species of Alsine , Al. media L. 
and Al. segetalis L. 
Scopoli (1799) took the first of these as the type of his Alsine ; but as Al. media L. is now universally recognised 
as a Stellaria, the genus Alsine Scop, disappears. 
Hiern (1899) took the second of the above species, Al. segetalis , as the type of his Alsine. Sometimes that species 
is placed in Spergularia which is now a nomen conservatum ; and thus Alsine Hiern is obsolete. By other authorities, 
the species is placed in Delia ; and hence Delia , judging by priority alone, would become Alsine L. emend. Schinz and 
Keller. 
In the second edition of the Spec. Plant, (i, 1762), Linnaeus added a third species of Alsine, namely, Al. mucronata L. 
Gaertner (1799) took this third species as the type of his Alsine, and was followed by Wahlenberg and almost all 
other botanists. The name Alsine, as thus defined, is consequently established firmly in botanical literature; and, on 
this ground, it is here suggested that the name be placed on the list of nomina utique conservanda generum. 
About 60 species ; cosmopolitan, especially cold and temperate regions. 
British subgenera of Alsine 
Subgenus I. Eu- Alsine (see below). Perennial or annual. Leaves linear. Flowers mono- 
clinous. Disc small. Ovary longer than broad. Seeds many, small. 
Subgenus II. Cherleria (p. 36). Perennial. Leaves broad. Flowers often monoclinous, 
hemi-dioecious. Disc with 5, large, linear-oblong glands. Stigmas 3 — 5, less than half as long as 
the ovary. Ovary broadly oval. Seeds few, small. 
Subgenus III. Honckenia (p. 37). Perennial. Leaves broad, succulent. Flowers hemi- 
dioecious. Disc large. Stigmas 3 — 5, very short. Capsule subglobose, few-seeded. Seeds large. 
Subgenus 1. EU-ALSINE 
Eu- Alsine nobis-; Alsinantheae Fenzl in Endlicher Gen. PI. 965 (1836 — 1840) as a section, inch Tryphane 
(p. 965) et Sabulineae (p. 964). 
For characters, see above. 
British species of Eu- Alsine 
1. Al. stricta (p. 33). Perennial. Leaves linear. Flowering branches with elongate inter- 
nodes. Petals as long as the sepals. Stigmas 3, a third as long as the ovary. Ovary broadly 
elliptical. 
