Arenaria biflora, L.

19. A. biflora L. View in CoL , Mantissa 71 (1767).

Perennial; stems up to 20 cm, procumbent, slender, rooting at the nodes, glabrous or rarely puberulent. Leaves 3^1 x 1 - 5-2- 5 mm, obovate toorbicular, obtuse, distinctly 1 -veined, abruptly contracted into a ciiiate petiole. Flowering branches 2-3 cm; flowers solitary or 2 together; pedicels 1 -2 times as long as sepals. Sepals 3 -5-4- 5 mm, ovate, obtuse or subacute, rarely acute, usually glabrous, often cibate near base, l (-3)-veined; petals slightly exceeding sepals. Capsule more or less equalling sepals. 2« = 22. Damp places at over 1700 m, often in snow-patches. Principal mountain-ranges of Europe, from Pyrenees to E. Carpathians and Bulgaria. Al Au Bu Ga Ge Gr He It Ju Rm Rs (W).

Plants from Romania and the N. part of the Balkan peninsula with lanceolate, acute sepals, often more-flowered branches, and petals slightly shorter than the sepals, are usually called A. rotundifolia Bieb. , Fl. Taur.- Cauc. 1: 343 (1808), but there appears to be no satisfactory basis for specific separation. A chromosome number of 2« = 44 has been recorded for this plant.