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S T E L L A R I A scapigera.
Many-stalked Stitchwort.
DECANDR1A Trigynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. 5-leaved, spreading. Petals 5,
deeply cloven. Caps, superior, of 1 cell, with 6
teeth at the orifice. Seeds numerous.
Spec. Char. Stem shorter than the flower-stalks.
Leaves linear-lanceolate, rough-edged. Calyx
three-nerved, the length of the petals.
S yn. Stellaria scapigera. TVillden. Sp. PI. v. 2. 716.
W ILD specimens of this new and curious Stellaria have
been obligingly communicated to us by Mr. G. Donn, who gathered
them at different times, from the year 1794 to 1803, on
the sides of rivulets in Perthshire, and about Loch Nevis, In-
vernessfhire. The plant was received by the younger Linnaeus
from the Kew garden with the apt name of scapigera,
but does not appear in the Hortus Kewensisof Mr. Aiton. A
specimen having come to the hands of Professor Willdenow,
he has described it in his Sp. PI., but its native country was
altogether unknown till Mr. Donn’s fortunate discovery.
It is perennial, but of the precise time of its flowering we
are not informed. The stems are very short, tufted, thickly
clothed with numerous, opposite, linear-lanceolate, acute
leaves, rough on the edges, but otherwise smooth, each having
a single rib, very thick at the base, tapering and vanishing
towards the point. Numerous long square smooth stalks
spring from the bosoms of the upper leaves, rising high above
the stem, mostly simple, and each bearing a white flower,
whose calyx-leaves have 3 ribs, a membranous edge, and are
about as long as the petals. Antherae red. The leaves turn
red in decay, and remain long on the stem. We do not find
them 3-ribbed, nor is the plant acaulis as described in Willdenow,