t 512 r
A R E N A R I A verna.
Vernal Sandwort.
D E C A N L R J A Trigyma.
Gen. Char. Cal. 5-leaved, fpreading. Petals 5, undivided.
Cap/, of 1 cell, with many feeds.
Spec. Char. Leaves awl-fhaped, bluntifh. Stem
panicled. Petals longer than the calyx, obovate.
Calyx with three remote equal ribs.
Syn. Arenaria verna. Linn. Mant. 72. Hudf. 191.
W ith . 423. L ig h tf. 231. Dickf. Dr. PI. 6. Hort.
Sicc.fafc. 13. 17.
Alline pufilla, pulchro flore, folio tenuiffimo noftras.
Rail Syn. 350.
f_t^HIS Arenaria grows plentifully on Arthur’s feat near
Edinburgh, but is mod abundant about the lead mines of
Derbyihire, on the foil thrown out of the mines, which fcarcely
nourithes any other plant. From thence our fpecimens were
taken. We have received others from Wales and Durham, by
favour of Mr. Griffith and Mr. Robfon. It is perennial, begins
flowering in May, and lafls above three months.
The root is very long and ftrong, defcending perpendicularly,
and branching below. Stems extremely numerous, branched,
forming a thick fpreading tuft, round, thickly clothed with op-
pofite leaves, and terminating in upright panicles. Leaves narrow,
aw-l-fhaped but blunt, three-nerved, connate at their bafe.
Braftese ovate, {harp pointed, three-nerved, concave, broader,
but much {horter, than the leaves. Flower-ftalks growing in
a panicled manner, but not regularly forked; each is finglfc-
flowered, ereft, with a pair of bradtese at its bafe. Calyx-leaves
ovate, acute, with a broad whitifh membranous border, and
marked with three equal prominent ribs, which are more remote
from each other than in fome fpecies. Petals longer than the
calyx, obovate. Antherae reddifh. Capfule cylindrical. The
whole herb, more efpecially the Item, is fometimes clothed with
{hort vifcid pubefcence, but the leaves are moftly fmooth. The
Arenaria figured in Gerard, Flo. Gallopr. t. 15. f . 1. is the recurves
of Allioni, not hitherto found in England, any more
than the true juniperina and laricifolia.