cross each other at right angles; and although, when older, this arrangement is not so distinct, yet the young shoots show very plainly the four distinct rows in which they were crowded. This Sea Purslane grows in tangled clumps on the sand, spreading its stems over the ground, the rich glossy green leaves having none of the glaucous tint of most other sea-side plants. One rarely sees its flowers; they appear in June, and are small and white, but they never expand in cloudy weather, or long after noonday. The roundish capsules contain a few seeds, which are large, in proportion to the size of the plant, and when matured are quite black. The author has occasionally found them as large as a pea. This flower is often called the Sea Pimpernel; it is confined to the sand or shingle, or the salt-marsh, never growing on inland districts. It is very common on the shores of Iceland, and is there prepared for food, by being fermented.

12. ARENÁRIA (Sandwort).

* Leaves without stipules.

1. A trinervis (Three-nerved Sandwort).-Leaves sessile, egg-shaped, acute, the lower ones stalked, 3-5 nerved, fringed; flowers solitary, from the forks of the stem and axils; sepals 3-nerved, the central nerve rough. Plant annual. This is a little plant of shady woods and moist places, having much branched downy stems, about a foot in height, and its upper leaves being without stalks. Any one little used to plants would mistake it for the common chickweed, but its white petals are not cleft like those of that flower. The blossoms are small, appearing in May and June. The Sandworts are a difficult tribe of plants to the unpractised botanist, but if this species is examined when in seed, it may be seen by a common glass, such as are used by naturalists, to possess a peculiar character, in having a little appendage to the scar of the seed. This plant delights in damp hedge-banks.

2. A. serpyllifólia (Thyme-leaved Sandwort).—Leaves broadly egg-shaped, pointed, somewhat rough, sessile; calyx hairy, about as long as the corolla; stem repeatedly forked. Plant annnal. This, like many of the Sandworts, is a native of the driest places, flourishing on open sandy banks, the tops of walls, and the sea-cliffs. Mr. Johns remarks, that when growing near the shore, the stems become less branched, and the leaves somewhat larger and more decidedly fringed than in its ordinary state. It flowers from June to August, but its white blossoms are small, and its shrubby stems and foliage rarely exceed five or six inches in height, so that the plant is too inconspicuous to attract the notice of any but the botanist.

3. A. vérna (Vernal Sandwort).-Stems numerous, panicled; leaves awlshaped, 3-nerved when dry; petals somewhat longer than the narrow-pointed 3-nerved sepals. Plant perennial. This Sandwort is found on fragments of quartz, on the mountains in the north of England and Wales, at the Lizard Point, Cornwall, as well as about Edinburgh, and on some Scottish mountains. It is very pretty; its white flowers, which appear in May and June, being large for the size of the plant. The stems are slightly hairy, and three or four inches high. The plant grows in tufts among the grass, or on the almost bare rock.

4. A. rubella (Alpine Sandwort).—Stems numerous; flower-stalks downy, terminal, and usually bearing but one flower; leaves slender, and awl-shaped, 3-nerved, blunt; petals shorter than the 3-nerved calyx. This rare plant, which is nearly allied to the last species, seems to be almost peculiar to the summits of the Breadalbane range of mountains in the Highlands of Scotland, growing amid solitudes in which the traveller might be reminded of the words of the poet :

"Hail, silence of the desert! I speak low
In reverence:-Here the falcon's wing is awed,
As o'er the deep repose, sublimely slow,
He wheels in conscious majesty abroad;
Spirits should make the desert their abode;
The meekest, purest, mightiest that e'er wore
Dust as a garment, stole from crowds unbless'd,
To sea-like forests, or the sea-beat shore,

Or utter'd on the star-sought mountain's breast
The holiest precepts e'er to earth address'd."

This lowly alpine flower has also been found on Ben Hope, in Sunderland, flowering in July and August. Sir William Hooker and Dr. Arnott remark of it: "This is quite an alpine or arctic plant; it loves to grow with its root buried under a loose piece of rock, and late in the summer often acquires a reddish tinge."

5. A. uliginosa (Bog Sandwort).-Stems prostrate at the base, with from one to three flowers, on long slender stalks; leaves awl-shaped, without nerves, and somewhat blunt; petals about as long as the calyx. Plant perennial. This rare species, which blossoms in June, grows in tufts near Teesdale, Durham, on the banks of the stream. The whole plant is without down or hairs.

6. A. tenuifólia (Fine-leaved Sandwort).—Stems very slender, much branched and forked; leaves narrow, and awl-shaped, 3-nerved; calyx about twice as long as the petals. This is a small plant, its stems not more than five or six inches high, and scarcely thicker than a sewing-thread. It grows in sandy fields in several counties of England, bearing its minute white flowers in June and July. It has been said to occur in some parts of Scotland, but this is doubted. Like many other of its species, it is a true Sandwort, and found only on sandy lands. The French call the Sandwort La Sablonnière, the Germans Das Sandkraut, and the Dutch Zandmuur; while the Italians, Spanish, and Portuguese call it Arenaria.

7. A. fastigiáta (Level-topped Sandwort).-Stems erect; leaves in tufts, awlshaped, pointed with minute bristles; flowers in dense tufts; petals shorter than the calyx; sepals narrow, and pointed, white with two green ribs. Plant annual. This species occurs on rocks, on some of the Scottish mountains, and is found also on the rocks of the Pyrenees. Sir J. E. Smith remarks that its seeds are beautifully toothed like a wheel, each on a long slender stalk. It flowers in June.

8. A. Norvégica (Norwegian Sandwort).—Leaves oblong, tapering towards the base, fleshy and smooth; sepals egg-shaped, acute, with 3-5 obscure ribs. Plant perennial. This species was discovered in the Shetland Isles, by Mr. T. Edmonstone, Jun., in 1837; and in 1858, Mr. Peach, while travelling with Sir R. Murchison in Unst, the most northerly Isle in Britain, found two or three specimens of this rare plant. Its stems are branched, and spread over the ground, and the branchlets are from one to three-flowered. It blossoms in July and August.

9. A. ciliáta (Fringed Sandwort).—Leaves tapering towards the base, roughish, fringed with small hairs; corolla twice as long as the calyx; sepals lanceolate and acute, with 3-5 prominent ribs. Plant perennial. This small Sandwort is peculiar to the limestone mountains of Ireland. It is downy, and flowers from June to August.

** Leaves furnished with stipules.

10. A. rúbra (Purple Sandwort).-Leaves linear, fleshy, pointed with a minute bristle; stipules chaffy; stems prostrate; seeds rough. Plant annual.

This little Sandwort is very frequent on the ridges of sandy or gravelly fields, having a number of pretty little purple or pale lilac flowers in the axils of its upper leaves, from June to September. It is much branched, and very easily distinguished from all but the next species, by the egg-shaped stipules, which consist of a pair of thin, white, chaffy scales, united at their base. It is very similar to the sea-side species, but altogether smaller, and less succulent. Many writers believe it to be the same plant, only altered by the condition of the soil on which it grows.

11. S. marina (Sea-side Sandwort).-Stems prostrate; leaves semi-cylindrical, without points; stipules white, chaffy, and cleft; seeds smooth, flattened, the seed-vessel usually longer than the calyx. Plant annual. Few sea-side plants are more generally to be found about our shores than this. Sometimes it hangs its branches down from a rocky crevice, giving a verdure to the cliff, though, as we look up to its clumps, we cannot perceive the small purple stars which are seated among its foliage. Sometimes our plant grows among the timber lying in the boat-yard, near the sea, or hangs in clumps from between the stones of the harbour, on some high wall never washed by the water; but the spot on which this Sandwort attains its greatest luxuriance is the salt-marsh, where, from June to September, it may be seen amid the pale green stems of the Southernwood, and the deeper tinted rosy tufts of the Thrift, its thousands of starry flowers, as large as silver pennies, by their multitude giving a distinct hue to patches of the soil. These blossoms vary from deep purple to delicate lilac, or white. A little later in the year, the numerous seed-vessels are crushed by every footstep, as we wander over the dreary, treeless, and almost flowerless marsh, when the wind sweeps through the sea-reeds its melancholy accompaniment to the dashing waves. The flowers of the Sea Sandwort, however, can be seen spangling the grass only in the early part of the summer's day, for, by four o'clock, each blossom is closed up from the dews which twilight brings; by nine o'clock the next morning, they will be all open again in their full loveliness, reminding us of the pretty fancy of Linnæus, who constructed a dial of such flowers as were constant in their habits of opening and closing at certain hours. Charlotte Smith has a beautiful little poem on such blossoms.

"In every copse and shelter'd dell,

Unveil'd to the observant eye, Are faithful monitors which tell

How pass the hours and seasons by. "The green-robed children of the spring Will mark the period as they pass, Mingle with leaves Time's feather'd wing, And bind with flowers his silent glass. "See Hieracium's various tribe

Of plumy seed and radiate flowers; The course of time their blooms describe, And wake or sleep appointed hours.

"Broad o'er its imbricated cup

The Goatsbeard spreads its golden rays,
But shuts its cautious petals up,
Retreating from the noontide blaze.
"Among the loose and arid sands

The humble Arenaria creeps;
Slowly the purple star expands,

But soon within its calyx sleeps.
"Thus in each flower and simple bell
That in our path untrodden lie,
Are mute remembrancers which tell
How fast the winged minutes fly.

"Time will steal on with ceaseless pace,
Yet lose we not the fleeting hours,
Who still their fairy footsteps trace,

As light they dance among the flowers."

The Purple and Sea-side Sandworts are, by some botanists, placed in a distinct genus, called Spergularia, from the resemblance to the Spurrey (Spergula). They are by these writers termed Sandwort Spurrey.

13. CERÁSTIUM (Mouse-ear Chickweed).

* Petals not longer than the calyx.

1. C. viscósum (Visc'd Mouse-ear Chickweed)-Stems hairy, viscid; leaves oblong, tapering; flowers in panicles. Plant perennial. This is a very common plant, though one which is little noticed by any but the botanist. It would, however, if removed from the road, or field, or pasture where it grows, be missed by the singing-birds, which make a large demand on the capsules, so well stored with tiny seeds. Thomson has said, speaking of Nature,—

"All is form'd

With number, weight, and measure, all design'd
For some great end! where not alone the plant
Of stately growth; the herb of glorious hue
Or foodful substance: not the labouring steed,
The herd and flock that feed us; not the mine
That yields us store for elegance and use;
The sea that loads our tables, and conveys

The wanderer, Man, from clime to clime; with all
Those rolling spheres that from on high shed down
Their kindly influence; not these alone,
Which strike even eyes incurious, but each moss,
Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank
Important in the plan of Him who framed

This scale of beings;-holds a rank, which, lost,
Would break the chain, and leave behind a gap
Which Nature's self would rue."

This Mouse-ear Chickweed bears small white flowers throughout the summer, and its seed-vessels, as they ripen, lengthen and become curved. Its stems are sp' eading.

2. C. vulgátum (Broad-leaved Mouse-ear Chickweed).-Stem hairy, nearly erect, the upper part viscid; leaves egg-shaped; petals as long as the calyx; tracts leafy. Plant annual. This is a smaller species than the last, though, in other respects, very similar to it, but it may be distinguished by its tufted flowers; these are white and inconspicuous, the petals being sometimes altogether wanting. They may be found from March to September, and after flowering, the capsules, curving upwards as they ripen, occur in great numbers. The stem is much branched at the lower part, and grows to the height of six or eight inches. Lyell remarks of this Chickweed, that it is among the most common plants in the world, being a truly cosmopolite species. We may find it everywhere in our own land by road-sides, and in fields and pastures.

3. C. semi-decándrum (Five-stamened Mouse-ear Chickweed, or little Mouseear Chickweed).-Leaves egg-shaped, or oblong; stem hairy and viscid, bearing few flowers; upper half of all the bracts and sepals chaffy. Plant annual. This is a common little herb on dry walls, or dry sandy banks and waste places, distinguished from similar species by usually having five stamens, though in a few cases these are but four in number. It blossoms very early in the year, its white flowers being almost hidden by the calyx, which is twice as long as the petals. At the same season the little Vernal Whitlow Grass often grows beside it, though this chickweed is more frequent than that plant, scarcely an old wall being without it. It remains in flower until May, withering, as Sir J. E. Smith observes, before the narrow-leaved species begins to put forth its far less conspicuous blossoms. It is a pretty little plant, very generally known by the name of Spring Mouse-ear.

4. C. tetrandrum (Four-cleft Mouse-ear).—Leaves egg-shaped or oblong ; stem forked, hairy, and somewhat viscid, with flowers in the forks; calyx rather