S A G I N A procumbens.
Procumbent Pearlwort.
TETRA ND RIA Tetragynia.
G e n . C h a r . Cal. 4 -lea v ed . Petals 4 . Capfule o f
1 c e ll.
S p e c . C h a r . Stenns procumbent, fmooth. Petals
very fhort.
Syn. S a g in a p rocum bens. Linn. Sp. PI. 18 5 . Sn/P
F l. B rit. 19 9 . Hudf. 7 3 . With. 2 1 5 . Hull. 38.
Reih. 7 3 . Sibth. 66. Abbot. 3 9 . Curt. Bond,
fa fc. 3. /. 12.
A lfin e lla mufcofo flore , repens. Bait Syn. 3 4 5 .
N o t h i n g can be more common than this humble weed
in Tandy wafte places, neglefted walks of gardens, and the
interfaces of paved courts, where its flowers are to be feen in
plenty from May to the end of autumn, provided the plant be
not entirely burnt up by the fummer’s fun.
Root perennial, fmall and fibrous. Stems feveral, procumbent,
fmooth, taking root at their joints, and, according to
Mr. Curtis’ s obfervations, conftantly remaining with their
leaves green through the winter. Leaves oppofite, and even
connate,' linear, convex beneath, entire, fmooth in every part,
tipped with a minute point. Flower-ftalks axillary, folitary,
Ample, fmooth, longer than the leaves, each bearing a fmall
nodding flower. Calyx of four fpreading elliptical blunt leaves.
Petals white, roundifli, but half the length of the calyx, entire.
Capfule ovate. Seeds fmall, reddifli brown, of a wedge-like,
or fomewhat of a kidney form.
The old name /Sagina, from fagino to cram or fatten, which
appears to have belonged to fome kind of corn, as Millet, or
Sorghum, is but ill applied to this little plant, and indeed feems
to have defeended to it by chance, having been firft joined as
an adjeftive to AIJine (on which indeed feveral animals do feed),
and then for want of a better denomination retained for the
prefent genus when feparated from AIJine, Spergula, &c.