SPERGULA pentandra.
Smooth-seeded. Corn Spurrey.
DECANDRIA Pentagynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. 5-leaved. Petals 5, undivided.
Capsule superior, \pvate, of 1 cell and 5 valves.
Spec. Char. Leaves whorled. Stalks of the fruit re-
flexed. Stamina five. ; Seeds lenticular, smooth,
with a membranous border.
Syn. Spergula pentandra. Linn. Sp. P I. 630. Abbot.
102. Roth. F I.. Germ. v. 2. 505.
S. annua, semine foliaceo nigro, circulo membranaced
albo cincto. D ill, in R a ii Syn. 351. '
W e are obliged to Mr. John Shepherd, the able Curator of
the Liverpool garden, for pointing out this plant to us in
August last on several sandy spots : near that town, where it
grows intermixed with S. arvensis, from which it is not to be
known till the flowers and seeds are examined. We do not
find any difference in the size of the plants, or number of the
leaves. Perhaps the flowers of this are rather smaller, and
their stamina are naturally 5, scarcely ever more. The most
remarkable difference is in the seeds, which are compressed
and lenticular, always smooth, and bordered by a very conspicuous
whitish membrane. In this respect it differs from
S. arvensis just as Arenaria marina does from rubra. How
far such differences are’ permanent, future inquiries must determine,
but they appear decisive.
This species 4 s mentioned with doubt in the FI. Brit., and
described according to the best lights I had then to guide me.
It is very doubtful whether Mr. Hudson had seen more than
the pentandrous variety of arvensisJ and Mr. Curtis ingenuously
expresses his own uncertainty on the subject. For
these reasons Mr. Shepherd’s discovery gave me peculiar
pleasure.