282 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



§ 2. Eustellaria, Fenzl, 1. c. 969. Styles 3-4. 



* Petals, except in some flowers of S. pubera, very deeply 2-parted (sometimes 

 minute or wanting) : segments narrow. 



-)- Lower leaves ovate, rather abruptly contracted into slender petioles. 



S. media, Smith. (Common Chickweed.) A low annual : stem 

 pubescent in lines : leaves acute ; the upper narrower sessile, the 

 lower on pubescent narrowly margined petioles : calyx glandular- 

 pubescent, equalled or slightly exceeded by the capsule : petals shorter 

 than the sepals : stamens 3, 5, or 10. — Eug. Bot. viii. t. 537. Alsine 

 media, L. Spec. 272; Walt. Car. 117. Holosteum succulenlum, L. 

 Amoen. iii. 21 ; Nutt. Gen. i. 89 ; Torr. Fl. U. S. 159. — One of the 

 commonest weeds in dooryards and cultivated grounds, especially in 

 moist soil, flowering from early spring to late autumn. 



S. prostrata, Baldw. Annual : stems weak, elongated, prostrate, 

 pubescent : leaves ovate, acute or shortly acuminate, the lower sub- 

 cordate on slender ciliated petioles ; the upper cauline short-petioled 

 or sub-sessile ; the floral reduced and bractlike : pedicels filiform : 

 flowers smaller than in the preceding : sepals in anthesis but a line 

 long : petals nearly twice as long : mature capsule much exceeding 

 the calyx ; valves distinctly circinate-revolute. — Baldw. in Ell. Sk. 

 i. 518; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 183; Gray, PI. Lindh. ii. 152, & PI. 

 Wright, ii. 17; Chapm. Fl. 50. — Moist and shaded places, rocky 

 woods ; Georgia and Florida to Texas. (Adj. Mex.) Leaves very 

 variable in size, from 2 lines to an inch in length. The flowers in 

 this species are distinctly smaller than in the nearly related Mexican 

 S. cuspidata, Willd., and S. ovata, Willd. 



S. nitens, Nutt. Annual, slender, erect, shining: stems filiform, 

 forked several times, leafy and slightly pubescent near the base, almost 

 naked and quite glabrous above : leaves of two forms, the lowest (1-3 

 pairs) ovate, acute, only 2 lines long, on slender petioles of somewhat 

 greater length, not always persisting; the other leaves lance-linear 

 acute, 3-5 lines long : sepals very acute, scarious-margined, 1-3 nerved : 

 petals half as long as the sepals, sometimes absent: capsule oblong., 

 about equalling the calyx. — Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 185; Torr. Pacif. 

 R. Rep. iv. G9, & Bot. Mex. Bound. 37 ; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 

 378. S. mamchioides, Fenzl, ace. to Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 675. 

 S. stricta, Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 96 in part. — S. California to Brit. 

 Columbia, Macoun ; eastward to Utah, Jones ; April, May. 



S. graminea, L., with seldom persistent but sometimes slightly 

 petiolate lower leaves, may possibly be sought here. 



