Ji t 69+ ]
SPERGULA nodofa.
Knotted Spurrey.
D E C A N D R I A Pentagynia^
G e n . Char. Cal. 5-leaved. Petals 5, undivided.
Capfule fuperior, ovate, of 1 cell and 5 valves.
S p e c . C h a r . Leaves oppofite, awl-fhaped, fmooth ;
the upper Ones cluttered. Calyx without nerves;.
S y n . Spergula nodofa. Linn. Sp. P I. 630. Sm. F I.
B rit. 50 3 . Hudf. 403. With. 4 3 7 . Hull. ioa.
R elb. j 8 i . Sibtb. 148. Abbot. 10 3 . Curt. Land,
fa fc . 4. /. 3 4 .
Alfine paluftris foliis tenuiflimis, feu Saxifraga pa-
luftris anglica. R a il Syn. 350.
JL H IS pretty plant is found in wet fpots upon fandy heaths
and commons, but not very frequently. It is perennial,
flowering in July and Auguft. The feeds are not always perfected.
Root fibrous. Herb very fmooth. Stems fpreading, and
generally proftrate, numerous, (lender, but little branched,
clothed with many pairs of awl-fhaped united leaves, which
produce from their bofoms tufts of much fmaller leaves, efpe-
cially the uppermoft. Sometimes the larger ones are flightly
fringed at their bafe. The flowers grow on ftalks at or near
the extremities of the Items, and are large in proportion to the
plant, of a pure brilliant white, and elegant in their appearance.
The 5 ftyles and 5 valves of the fruit alone feparate
this plant from the genus of Arenaria, to which it is in other
refpedts clofely allied, as may indeed be faid of almofi: every
Spergula.
The firft difcoverer of the S. nodofa in England was Mr.
John Goodyer in 1626, as appears from his own ftatement in
the 2d edition of Gerarde’s Herbal,/., 568; to which work he
was a great contributor, and his communications are remarkable
for accuracy of obfervation and clearnefs of expreffion.
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