STELLARIA 
62 
sessile, linear, acute to acuminate. Inflorescence with 1—3. rarely 4 — 7 flowers. Bracts with 
narrow scarious margins. Pedicels not reflexed in fruit, several times as long as the calyx, up to 
c cm . long. Flowers up to 2 cm. in diameter; July and August. Sepals lanceolate, distinctly 
veined, acuminate, with scarious margins. Petals 1 — 2 times as long as the sepals, bifid. Stigmas 
3, rarely 4 or one of them branched, longer than the ovary. Capsule subglobose. Seeds punctulate. 
There are several forms in England of this highly variable species. In particular, three characters may be found 
occurring in all their theoretical combinations. These characters are (1) glaucousness (=G) 1 and non-glaucousness (or 
greenness, = g), (2) large petals (= P) (about i- S -2-o times as long as the sepals) and small petals (- p) (about as long as 
the sepals), and (3) many-flowered (5—7) cymes (= C) and few-flowered (1—3) cymes (- c). Thus we may have the following 
eight theoretical combinations: GPC, GPc, GpC, Gpc, gPC, gPc, gpC, and gpc. Of the plants with these combinations 
of characters, three have been named by Magnier (in Bull. Bot. Soc. France xxvm, 82 (1881)): the GpC plants - higiosa 
Magnier loc at. : the gPC plants are 5 . moenchi Magnier loc. cit.; and the GPc plants are 5 . heterophylla Magnier loc at. 
Plants possessing the other five combinations of the above characters do not appear yet to have been named, though any 
one combination is on a priori grounds as important as any other. However, each of the eight forms belongs, in our 
opinion, to the species S. dilleniana (= 5 . palustris = 5 . glauca) : Magnier’s plants could, of course, be reduced to varieties of 
this species ; but, in that case, it would logically necessitate the creation of five more varieties. 
The particular form named S. dilleniana in the first instance by Moench was gpc. 
It should be remembered, however, that several varieties of the species are already in existence. For example, in Rouy 
and Foucaud’s FI. de France , several forms have been named; but in that work, only two of the above characters (namely, 
Gg and Pp) are taken into account. Rouy and Foucaud’s names may be related as follows GP = palustris var. communis : 
gP = S. palustris var. communis subvar. viridis : Gp = S. palustris var. parviflora ; gp = S. palustris var. parviflora subvar. vindts. 
If, however, the theoretical combinations which we have above pointed out be reduced to pairs of characters, there are the 
following combinations to consider GP, gP, Gp, gp, GC, gC, Gc, gc, PC, pC, Pc, and pc. Of these, Rouy and Foucaud 
have named only four, leaving eight unnamed, each of which has logically as much claim to a name as the other our. 
Local, in fens and marshes where the water is stagnant and has a high mineral content , from 
Cornwall and Kent northwards to Perthshire ; rare in Wales, northern England, Scotland, and hilly 
districts generally; western and central Ireland. 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe, southern Europe, 
Asia (including the East Indies and New Holland); N. America (not indigenous). 
1 Cf. note under Spergularia salina , p. 21, and Moss in New Phytol. xi, 399 (1912). 
