PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO 
212 
[ Caryophyllea . 
that we have to adopt these distinctions only as characteristic of a luxuriant variety, hut not as those of a 
distinct species. 
Stellaria multiflora, Hook. Compan. to the Bot. Mag. i. 275 ; J. Hook, injoum. ofBot. ii. 411; 
FI or. Tasman, i. 43. 
Annual, smooth; leaves narrow-lanceolate, small, sessile; pedicels axillary and terminal, solitary, 
oftener shorter than longer than the leaves; sepals subulate-lanceolate, three-nerved; petals wanting; sta¬ 
mens 5-10, much shorter than the sepals ; anthers yellow; capsule ovate or ellipsoid, six-valved; columella 
almost obliterated; seeds brown, minutely tubercled. 
In sandy, grassy and rocky localities not uncommon -within our territory, as well in the lowlands as 
in the mountain regions, ascending to the alps. Distributed also over the southern and eastern parts of the 
Colony of South Australia and over the whole of Tasmania. 
Root producing many tender fibres. Stems usually many from each root, from 1 inch to about 1 foot 
long, quadrangular, shining, weak, erect or ascending, sometimes radicant at the lower nodes. Leaves 2-6 
lines long, acute, one-nerved, opaque, fiat. Pedicels emerging solitary from almost every node, seldom 1 
inch long, not rarely shorter than the calyx. Sepals 1J-2J lines long, with narrow membranous margin, 
smooth. Petals rarely present and then incomplete in number and developed in a diminutive rudimentary 
state, 1 line or less long, entire, roundish, one-nerved or nerveless, blunt or mucronulate, white, membranous, 
undivided; their position normal. Filaments linear-subulate, only J-g line long, confluent at the base into 
a narrow disk, some occasionally barren. Anthers very minute. Styles 3, filiform, blunt, about l line long. 
Capsule usually of the length of the calyx, ovate, occasionally longer than the calyx and narrow-ellipsoid, 
deeply dehiscent; its valves mostly revolute at the apex, sometimes, however, quite straight. Seeds several 
or few in each capsule, renate-globose, line long. Embryo cylindrical, horseshoe-shaped. Cotyledons 
about as long as the radicle. 
COLOBANTHUS. 
JBartling , Reliq. Hcenk. ii. 13, t. 49. 
Sepals 4-5. Corolla wantmg. Stamens 4-5, alternate with the sepals. Ovary one-celled. 
Ovules numerous, inserted with long funicles to the basal or columnar placentae. Styles 4-5, stig- 
matose at the summit, opposite to the sepals. Capsule membranous or chartaceous, perfectly or im¬ 
perfectly 4-5-valved ; the valves alternate with the sepals. Seeds many, without a strophiole. Embryo 
semiannular. 
Small usually tuft-growing or moss-like perennial plants, observed in the colder regions of South 
America, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, the Island of Amsterdam and the antarctic islands. 
Stems vaginate by the opposite leaves. Stipules wanting. Flowers very small, usually solitary.— 
Fenzl , in Endl. Atakta , t. 49; Annalen des Wien. Mws. i. 48; ii. 273; Jos. Hook Flor. Antard. ii 248. 
The relative position of sepals and stamens, in which regard Colobanthus approaches to many 
Portulaceae, distinguish it from all other Australian genera of the order. 
Colobantlius Billardierii, Fenzl, -Annul. des Wiener Museums, i. 48; J. Hook. FI. Antarctic, i. 
14; FI. N. Zeeland, i. 27; FI. Tam., i. 45; C. affinis, J\ Hook. FI. Tasm. i. 45 ; Spergula apetala, laUll 
Nov. Holl. Plant. Specim. i. 112, 1. 142; S. affinis, J. Hook, in Journ. of Bot. ii. 410; Hook. Icon. Plant, 
t. 266. 
Almost stemless ; leaves long, linear, very acute, fiat; flowers pentamerous, on scape-like pedicels ; sepals 
ovate or lanceolate, at the summit acute or subulate, longer than the stamens; capsule globose-ovate, about 
as long as or longer than the calyx; seeds numerous. 
