f t
S A G I N A apetala.
Annual Small-flowered Pearlwort.
TETRANDRIA Tetragynia.
G e n . C h a r . Cal. 4 - le a v ed . Petals 4 . Capfule of*
1 c e ll.
S p e c . C h a r . Stems n ea rly u p r ig h t, h airy. P e ta ls
obfole te.
.S y n , S a g in a apetala. Linn. Mant. 2. 5 5 9 - FI.
B rit. 199. With. 216. Hull. 38. S ib th .6 ,j .
Abbot. 3 9 . Curt. Lond.fafc. 5 . t. 14 . Dick/. H.
S icc.fq fc. 3. 6.
S a x ifra g a a n g lic a alfinefolia annua. Raii Syn. 3 4 5 .
T h i s fpecies of Sagina is fcarcely lefs frequent than the
preceding, but generally found in more dry barren and open
places, flowering in May and June.
Root conftantly annual. Stems nearly upright, or if they
fpread they never take root; they differ moreover from thofe
of the laft in being clothed with fhort Mattered hairs. Leaves
alfo frequently hairy, and always (we believe) fringed at the
bafe. Flower-ftalks {lender, often, but not always, hairy.
Petals white, very minute, and often altogether wanting 5
frequently they are notched. Seeds generally marked with
a black line on their outward edge, but. this is not abfolutely
invariable.
Our fpecimens precifely accord with thofe of Linnaeus fent
by Profeflor Arduino; though we fliould hardly have recognized
his figure {Spec. Adv. Bot. 2. t. 8 ./ . 1.), which is by no
means exprefiive. Linnaeus appears not to have been practically
acquainted with the differences between thefe two.
fpecies, and he certainly confounded Spergula fululatax
FI. Brit, with the former.