34 
ALSINE 
Perennial, densely or laxly tufted. Shoot usually glabrous, rarely glandular. Leaves linear- 
subulate, 3-nerved, short (less than 
i cm. long). Flowering branches with 
short or long internodes, up to nearly 
i '5 dm. high. Inflorescence with i — 7 
flowers. Pedicels up to about 2 cm. 
long, 1 — 3 times as long as the calyx. 
Flowers about 1 cm. in diameter; June 
to August. Sepals joined a little at 
the base, ovate, 3 — 5-nerved, with a 
narrow whitish border. Petals longer 
than the sepals, elliptical. Stamens 10. 
Stigmas 3, nearly as long as the ovary. 
Ovary narrowly and bluntly oval. Cap- 
sule cylindrical. 
This is an extremely variable species ; and 
in Giirke’s Plantae Europaeae ii, pp. 255 — 258 
(1897), 23 varieties are tabulated. It is highly 
probable that several of these occur in the British 
Islands ; but no serious attempt has been made 
by British students to relate the indigenous forms 
to the varieties named by continental botanists. 
A few British forms have been given names, it 
is true; but we do not feel satisfied as to the 
accuracy of these; and we prefer to leave to 
future students of the genus the task of eluci- 
dating the British varieties rather than to take 
up the varietal names which are in partial use 
in this country at the present time. 
Locally abundant on dry calca- 
reous grassland, on mounds of gravelly 
debris near old lead mines, on 
mountains in wet gravelly situations 
fed by calcareous springs, and in 
marshes and by stream-sides in sub- 
montane districts ; in the west and 
north of Great Britain, namely, Corn- 
wall (near sea-level), Somerset, Wales, 
the Pennines, the Lake District, 
southern and central Scotland (670 m. 
in Perthshire), and Zetland; Ireland — 
co. Clare, co. Derry, and co. Antrim. 
Faeroes, Iceland, northern Russia, 
Germany (central and southern), Bel- 
gium, France (central and eastern), 
central Europe (ascending to 3090 m. 
in Switzerland), southern Europe ; 
northern Africa; Asia; North America 
(as var. prop inqua) and Greenland. 
Map 12. Distribution of A. verna in the British Isles 
3. ALSINE RUBELLA. Plate 33 
Alsine rubella Wahlenberg FI. Lapp. 128, t. 6 (1812)!; Syme Eng. Bot. ii, in (1864); Ar. sulcata 
Schlechtendal in Gesellsch. Naturf. Freunde Berlin Mag. vii, 212 (1816); Aretiaria giesekii Hornemann in FI Dan. 
fasc. xxvi, 5 (1818) ; Ar. hirta [Wormskiold ex] Hornemann op. cit. fasc. xxviii, 6 (1823) ; Ar. rubella Smith Eng. Bot. 
iv, 267 (1824)!; D Don in Eng. Bot. Suppl. no. 2638 (1830); Al. verna var. rubella Hartman Skand. FI. ed. 3, 1 1 2 
(1838); Al. verna var. glacialis Ledebour FI. Ross, i, 350 (1842); Minuartia rubella Hiern op. cit. 320 (1899). 
leones: — D. Don in Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2638, as Ar. rubella ; Graves and Hooker in Curtis’s FI. Lond. 
ed. 2, t. 203, as Ar. rubella ; FI. Dan. t. 1518, as Ar. giesekii. 
