42 
MOENCHIA 
Biennial. Winter branches numerous, prostrate. Flowering branches ascending or decumbent, 
terete, with short decurved hairs all round. Petioles of the leaves of the barren branches about 
as long as the laminae, of the flowering branches about a fifth as long. Laminae of the barren 
branches suborbicular, about i cm. long ; of the flowering branches elliptical, acute, 3 — 5 nerved, 
up to about 2 - 5 cm. long and i’5 broad; all more or less ciliate. Pedicels very long. Flowers 
about 5 mm. in diameter; May to early July. Sepals lanceolate, acuminate, 1 — 3 nerved, margin 
slightly membranous, keeled, with short hairs on the margin and midrib, about 5 mm. long. Petals 
about two-thirds as long as the sepals. Stamens 5 — 10, filaments and anthers white. Styles 3, free, 
white. Capsule subglobose, nearly as long as the calyx. Seeds with an aril. 
There is an allied form with laminae not ciliate and with rougher seeds. The figure in the Eng. Bot- 
(t. 1483) is sometimes cited as this ; and Mr H. G. Carter two or three years ago sent us a plant from Devon- 
shire which seemed to be it. We set out its citations below. 
[(<£) Ar. trinervia var. divaricata Salis-Marschlins in Flora Beibl. ii, 71 (1834); Ar. pentandra Dufour in 
Ann. Sc. Gen. Phys. vii, 292 (1820); Moehringia pentandra Gay in Ann. Sc. Nat. xxvi, 230 (1832); Grenier et 
Godron Ft. France i, 257 (1848); M. trinervia var. pentandra Webb in Parker-Webb et Berthelot iii, pt. ii, i, 
150 (1836 — 1840); Caruel in Parlatore’s Ft. Ital. ix, 553 (1892); M. trinervia subsp. pentandra Rouy et Foucaud 
FI. France iii, 256 (1896). 
leones: — ? Smith Eng. Bot. t. 1483, as Ar. trinervia ; Willkomm Icon, et Descr. i, t. 58, as Moehringia 
pentandra. 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 1385, as Moehringia pentandra. 
Cf. Syme Eng. Bot. ii, p. 101.] 
Damp or rather dry woods and hedgerows ; from the Channel Isles, Cornwall and Kent, 
northwards to Caithness-shire ; throughout Ireland. 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe (ascending to 
1467 m. in the Tyrol), Russia, southern Europe ; Asia. 
Genus 7. Moenchia 
By G. CLARIDGE DRUCE, M.A. 
Moenchia Ehrhart Beitr. ii, 177 (1788) non Medikus nec Necker nec Roth nec Wenderoth ; Pax in Engler 
und Prantl Pflanzenfam. iii, pt. 1 b, 81 (1889); Sagina L. loc. cit., p. min. p. ; Cerastium sect. Moenchia Fenzl in 
Endlicher Ge?i. PI. 970 (1836 — 1840); Alsinella [Dillenius App. Cat. Giss. 124 (1719);] Moench Meth. PI. 222 
(1794) non Swartz nec Hornemann nec S. F. Gray. 
Annual herbs, differing from Sagina in the capsule dehiscing by twice as many teeth as there 
are stigmas, from Alsine and Arenaria in the isomerous gynoecium, and from Cerastium in the 
entire or subentire petals. 
Moenchia connects Arenaria and Cerastium. 
About 6 species ; Europe (excl. northern and Arctic) ; northern Africa ; south-western Asia. 
i. MOENCHIA ERECTA. Plate 42 
Holosteum minimum tetrapetalon sive alsine tetrapetalos caryophylloides Ray Cat. Angl. 168 (1670); Alsinella foliis 
caryophylle'is Dillenius Cat. Giss. 47 (1719); Ray Syn. ed. 3, 344, t. 15, fig. 4 (1724). 
Moenchia erecta Gaertner, Meyer, und Scherbius FI. Wetter, i, 219 (1799); Smith Eng. FI. i, 241 (1824); 
Sagina erecta L. Sp. PI. 128 (1753)!; Smith Eng. Bot. no. 609 (1799); FI. Brit. 200 (1800)!; M. quaternella Ehrhart 
Beitr. ii, 178 (1788)!; Williams in Journ. Bot. xxxix, 365 (1901); M. glauca Persoon Syn. i, 153 (1805); Cerastium 
quaternellum Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 77 (1864) ; Rouy et Foucaud FI. France iii, 224 (1896) ; C. glaucum var. quaternellum 
Grenier Monogr. 49 (1841); C. erectum Cosson et Germain FI. Env. Paris 39 (1845). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 609, as Sagina erecta ; Curtis FI. Lond. i, 34, as 5 . erecta ; Baxter Brit. Phaen. 
Bot. vi, t. 460; Reichenbach Icon, v, t. 227, fig. 4953. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 4.2. {a — d) Whole plants. ( e ) Flower (enlarged). {/) Fruits (one enlarged). 
Hertfordshire (J. E. L.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 1 142, as Cerastium quaternellum ; 1 142 ter, as C. erectum ; Dickson, vi, 6, as Sagina erecta ; 
Ehrhart ( Phyt .), 82, as M. quaternella ; v. Heurck et Martinis, viii, 354, as C. quaternellum ; Huter, Porta, et Rigo 
{Ex Itin. Ital. iii), 738; Reichenbach, 386; Schultz {H.N.), 444, as C. erectum ; Todaro, 655; Wirtgen, ix, 451. 
