CARYOPHYLLACE^: 



A dainty arrival of springtime. There is a tufted ap- 

 pearance to the numerous, fine leaves. The white flowers, 

 with broad, deeply cleft petals open in sunshiny weather. 

 Although pretty, it is a frequent garden weed. On the 

 Commons, it is so prolific that sheets of the starry flowers, 

 growing with Bird's Foot Violet (Viola pedata), cover the 

 ground. 



CARYOPHYLLACE^) PINK FAMILY 



Cerastium vulgatum, L. 



White Large Mouse-ear Chickweed, 



Common Chickweed. 

 May-September 



Cerastium: for derivation see arvense. 

 Vulgatum: Latin for common. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: yards and lanes. 



THE PLANT: erect or ascending, six inches to eighteen 

 inches high; the stem sticky, with short, soft hairs. 



THE LEAVES: basal and stem opposite; oblong to spatu- 

 late; acute or obtuse; entire. 



THE FLOWERS: small, loosely clustered; with leaf -like 

 bracts; petals two-cleft; sepals short. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule, borne on fairly long pedicels. 



A bothersome, low-growing weed, growing in dense 

 clumps in gardens and fields, that has clammy stems and 

 numerous oblong leaves. The small, starry white flowers 

 are somewhat wheel-shaped. They open only in the 

 brightest sunshine, a fact that has introduced the plant 

 to the ranks of Nature's weather-prophets. 



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