6. P. marítima, L. Perennial; spikes dense.—Coast of Mass.; Gulf of St. Lawrence to Lab. and Greenland. (Eu.)
[*][*] Flowers of 2 sorts (as respects length of anthers and filaments) on different plants, mostly cleistogamous; corolla-lobes broad, rounded, persistently spreading; seeds 2, boat-shaped; inflorescence and narrow leaves silky-pubescent or woolly; annual.
7. P. Patagónica, Jacq., var. gnaphalioìdes, Gray. White with silky wool; leaves 1–3-nerved, varying from oblong-linear to filiform; spike very dense (¼–4´ long), woolly; bracts not exceeding the calyx; sepals very obtuse, scarious, with a thick centre.—Prairies and dry plains, Minn. to Ind., Ky., and Tex., westward to the Pacific. Very variable.—Var. nùda, Gray; with sparse and loose pubescence, green and soon glabrate rigid leaves, and short bracts.—Var. spinulòsa, Gray; a canescent form with aristately prolonged and rigid bracts.—Var. aristàta, Gray; loosely hairy and green, or becoming glabrous, with narrowly linear bracts 2–3 times the length of the flowers. (Nat. on Martha's Vineyard, and about Boston.)
§ 2. Flowers subdiœcious or polygamo-cleistogamous; the corolla in the fertile (or mainly fertile) plant closed over the maturing capsule and forming a kind of beak, and anthers not exserted; sterile flowers with spreading corolla and long-exserted filaments; seeds mostly flat; small annuals or biennial.
[*] Leaves comparatively broad, short-petioled or subsessile; stamens 4.
8. P. Virgínica, L. Hairy or hoary-pubescent (2–9´ high); leaves oblong, varying to obovate and spatulate-lanceolate, 3–5 nerved, slightly or coarsely and sparingly toothed; spikes mostly dense (1–2´ long); seeds usually 2.—Sandy grounds, S. New Eng. to S. Ill., south to Fla. and Ariz.
[*][*] Leaves linear or filiform; flowers very small; stamens 2; spike slender.
9. P. pusílla, Nutt. Minutely pubescent (1–4´ high); leaves entire; capsule short-ovoid, 4-seeded, little exceeding the calyx and bract.—Sandy soil, southern N. Y. to Va., west to the Rocky Mts. Apr.–Aug.
10. P. heterophýlla, Nutt. Leaves rather fleshy, acute, entire, or some of them below 2–4-lobed or toothed; capsule oblong-conoidal, 10–28-seeded, nearly twice the length of the calyx and bract.—Low sandy ground, Penn. to Fla. and Tex. Apr.–June.
2. LITTORÉLLA, L.