Caryophyllece.} 
THE COLONY OE VICTORIA. 
209 
Root fibrous. Stems from 1 to several inches long*, with the branches almost capillary. Leaves 2-6 
lines long, line broad, spreading*; each pair at the base confluent into a very short cylindrical vagina; the 
radical leaves the longest and usually tufted. Pedicels axillary and terminal, solitary, capillary, from a few 
lines to nearly 1 inch long, often curved at the summit. Sepals J-l line long, almost nerveless. Petals 
obovate-cuneate, blunt, entire, white, alternate with the sepals. Stamens 4, seldom 5, shorter than the calyx. 
Filaments linear-subulate, opposite to the sepals. Anthers roundish, very minute, yellow, introrsely dehiscent. 
Ovary nearly globose. Styles 4, about line long*. Capsule thin-cartilaginous, to about the middle four- 
valved, ovate-globose, usually about half-exserted. Funicles fasciculate, of unequal length; the longest 
reaching hardly to half the height of the cavity. Seeds renate-ovate, turgid, £ line long*, at first brown, 
when ripe black, rather shining, slightly dotted. Embryo semiannular. 
Sagina apetala, Linne , Mantissa Plant, p. 559; S. stricta, Fries, JYovit. Flor . Suec. ed. 2, 58; 
S. maritima, Don, in Engl . Dot. 2195. 
Annual; stems mostly erect or ascendent; leaves linear or semicylindrical, pointed; pedicels usually 
permanently erect; flowers tetramerous; petals much shorter than the calyx or wanting; capsule somewhat 
longer than the calyx. 
On low meadows around Port Phillip. Pound in Australia also on St. Vincent’s Gulf. Not unfre- 
quent in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. 
The similarity of this to the preceding species renders a detailed description unnecessary. It is usually 
of smaller size. The strand variety is often purplish-tinged, like other litoral plant somewhat carnulent, 
and usually devoid of petals. The inland variety has its leaves mostly longer pointed and the lower part not 
rarely fringed; its pedicels and sometimes also its stems and branches are slightly puberulous; its exterior 
sepals are generally slightly pointed; the petals are often developed, although exceedingly small. Mr. 
G. Bentham (Handbook of the British Plora, 120) is not inclined to assign to this plant specific distinction, 
but combines it with the foregoing. 
STELLARM. 
Linn. Gen . Plant . 568.—Stitchwort. 
Sepals 4-5. Petals 4-5, more or less deeply bifid , seldom jagged or wanting. Stamens twice 
the number of the sepals, seldom fewer, all fertile. Styles usually 3, rarely 2, 4 or 5. Ovary sessile, 
one-celled. Ovules few or many. Funicles inserted to the basal or columnar placenta. Capsule cleft 
beyond the middle; its valves twice the number of the styles. Seeds many or few, rarely 1. Stro- 
phiole wanting. Embryo imperfectly annular. 
Annual or perennial herbs, occurring in the temperate and colder parts of the globe, rare or 
absent within the tropics unless in cooler elevations, extending neither to Western Australia. Stems 
angular. Leaves opposite, exstipulate. Flowers usually long-pedicellate, cymose or solitary. Petals 
white.— Fenzl, in Endl. Gen . Plant. 969. 
Stellaria pungens, Brogniart , in Duperrey, Voy. autour du Monde Dot. t. 78 ; J. Hooh. FI . Tasm. 
i. 44; S. squarrosa, Hook. Journ. of Botany, i. 250. 
Perennial; brancJdets more or less lanuginous; leaves complicate , rigid, ovate - or lanceolate-subulate, 
pungent, sessile, towards the base scantily fringed, otherwise glabrous, shining*; pedicels axillary and termi¬ 
nal, solitary, usually downy; sepals lanceolate-subulate, three-nerved; petals somewhat or hardly longer 
than the calyx, bipartite; capsule ovate, six-valved; columella very short. 
In rocky, stony or sandy places not unfrequent throughout the greater part of the colony, ascending to 
the Australian Alps, not extending into the desert nor north-eastward and westward beyond Australia Felix; 
abundant, however, in Tasmania. 
’ ? 2D 
