PORTULACACEAE (PURSLANE FAMILY) 



57 



C. vulgatum, COMMON MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED. Perennial. Petals 

 equaling or shorter than the sepals or wanting. Upper bracts nearly 

 herbaceous. Pedicels longer than the calyx. Common 

 in fields and dooryards. May-July. 



C. nutans, MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED. Annual. Stems 

 erect, slender, grooved, diffusely branched, 1.5-5 dm. 

 high. Inflorescence loose, many-flowered. Leaves ob- 

 long-lanceolate, acute, the lowest spatulate. Petals a 

 little longer than the sepals. Pods nodding on the 

 stalks, curved upward, nearly or quite three times the 

 length of the calyx. Moist rich soil. May-July. 



SILENE 



Herbs with solitary or clustered flowers, a 5- 

 toothed calyx, 5 petals with slender stalk-like base, 

 10 stamens, 3 styles, a I 3-celled ovary, and a pod 

 opening at apex by 3 or 6 teeth. (Name from 

 sialon, saliva, from the sticky exudation on the stems 

 and calyx of many species.) 



S. antirrhina, SLEEPY CATCHFLY. Annual. Stems 

 slender (2-9 dm. high). Leaves lanceolate or linear. 

 Flowers small, paniculate. Calyx ovoid. Petals ob- 

 cordate, crowned, opening transiently in sunshine. 

 Common in waste places and open woods. June-Sept. 



PORTULACACEAE (PURSLANE FAMILY) 



Herbs ^vith entire fleshy leaves, 2 separate or 

 united sepals, 4 petals. ^-20 stamens, a 2-8 parted _ 



Silene antirrhina, 



style, and a I -celled pod. Corollas opening only in sieepycatchfly; 

 sunshine, mostly ephemeral, then shriveling. a > habit; b, 



single flower. 



CLAYTONIA 



A perennial herb flowering conspicuously and abundantly in 

 spring. The simple stems arise from a small deep tuber. They bear 

 a pair of opposite leaves and a loose raceme of pinkish flowers. 

 The veins of the corolla are more deeply colored than the rest. 

 Sepals 2, ovate, persistent. Stamens 5, adhering to the short 



