138 CARYOPHYLLACEAE 



Bracts foliaceous. 



Petals minute or absent; leaves lanceolate. 

 Sepals acute, with scarious margins. 



Leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate; flowers axillary or cymose. 7. S. borealis. 

 Leaves ovate; flowers axillary. 

 Plants glabrous. 

 Plants finely puberulent. 

 Sepals obtuse, the margins not scarious; leaves ovate. 

 Petals equaling the sepals or nearly so. 

 Petals merely retuse or bifid at the apex; plants glandular. 12. 5". Jamesiana. 



1. Stellaria media (L.) Cyrill. Common Chickweed. Fig. 1658. 



Alsine media L. Sp. PI. 272. 1753. 



Stellaria media Cyrill. Char. Comm. 36. 1784. 



Annual, glabrous throughout except for a longitudinal line of hairs along the stems, branches 

 and pedicels; stems weak and decumbent or ascending, 10-40 cm. long. Leaves ovate or oval, 

 1-3 cm. long, the upper sessile, the lower petioled ; flowers in terminal leafy cymes or axillary ; 

 pedicels slender; sepals 4-6 mm. long, oblong, acute; petals shorter than the sepals, 2-parted; 

 capsule ovoid, longer than the sepals ; seeds roughened. 



A cosmopolitan weed, very common in the Pacific States. Native of Eurasia. March-Sept. 



Stellaria humifusa Rottb. Skrift. Vid. Selsk. 10: 447. 1770. Glabrous annuals, with branched stems 

 spreading or ascending, 3—10 dm. long. Leaves ovate to oblong, 4-6 mm. long, sessile, acute or obtuse; bracts 

 similar to the leaves; flowers solitary or few; sepals ovate-lanceolate, 4 mm. long; petals equaling or slightly 

 exceeding the sepals, 2-parted; capsule ovoid, equaling the sepals; seeds smooth, brown. A northern species 

 ranging from Alaska to Labrador and New Brunswick, also Europe and Asia. Collected many years ago at West- 

 port, Chehalis County, Washington (Leaflets West. Bot. 1: 199. 1936), but not since found in the Pacific States. 



2. Stellaria nitens Nutt. Shiny Chickweed. Fig. 1659. 



Stellaria nitens Nutt, in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1 : 185. 1838. 

 Alsine nitens Greene, Man. Bay Reg. 33. 1894. 



Annual, the stems filiform, erect, several times forked, pubescent below. Leaves mostly 

 basal, the lowest petioled, ovate, acute, about 4 mm. long, the upper sessile, linear-lanceolate, 

 6-10 mm. long; flowers few; sepals 3 mm. long, very acute, scarious-margined, 1-3-nerved; 

 petals half as long as the sepals or sometimes wanting; capsule oblong, about as long as the 

 sepals ; seeds obscurely reticulate-roughened. 



Grassy hillsides and valleys, Transition and Upper Sonoran Zones; British Columbia to northern Lower 

 California and east to Utah. Type locality: "Plains of the Oregon." March-June. 



3. Stellaria umbellata Turcz. Umbellate Chickweed. Fig. 1660. 



Stellaria umbellata Turcz. Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 15: 173. 1842. 

 Alsine baicalensis Coville, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 4: 70. 1893. 



Perennial, glabrous throughout except for cilia on the margins of the leaf bases ; stems very 

 slender, numerous and usually branching, 1-4 dm. long. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, narrowed to 

 both ends, 1-2 cm. long, thin, much shorter than the internodes ; flowers in the upper axils and 

 in terminal umbellate cymes with small scarious bracts ; pedicels very slender, usually recurved 

 at the tip; sepals 2-5 mm. long, scarious-margined; petals minute, often none; capsule oblong- 

 ovoid, the teeth obtuse, 4-5 mm. long ; seeds light brown, very obscurely reticulate. 



Moist soils usually in shade. Boreal Zones; Blue Mountains, Oregon, to the southern Sierra Nevada, Cali- 

 fornia, Colorado, and northern Arizona; also Asia. Type locality: Siberia. July-Aug. 



4. Stellaria longifolia Muhl. Long-leaved Starwort. Fig. 1661. 



Stellaria longifolia Muhl. ex Willd. Enum. Hort. Ber. 479. 1809. 

 Stellaria Friesiana Ser. in DC. Prod. 1: 397. 1824. 

 Alsine longijolia Britt. Mem. Torrey Club 5: 150. 1894. 



Perennial, glabrous throughout or with cilia at the base of the leaves, the stems erect or 

 nearly so, 3-4 dm. high. Leaves linear, acute at each end, 2-3 cm. long ; cyme many-flowered, 

 open, long-peduncled and becoming lateral ; pedicels spreading or at length reflexed ; bracts 

 scarious; sepals lanceolate, acute; petals exceeding the sepals; capsule straw-colored, exceeding 

 the calyx ; seed smooth. 



In wet meadows, Humid Transition Zone; Alaska to western Oregon, east to Newfoundland and Kentucky. 

 Type locality: Pennsylvania. May-July. 



5. Stellaria graminea L. Lesser Starwort. Fig. 1662. 



Stellaria graminea L. Sp. PI. 422. 1753. 



Alsine graminea Britt. Mem. Torrey Club 5: 150. 1894. 



Perennial from creeping rootstocks, glabrous throughout, the stems weak, ascending, 2-5 dm. 



long. Leaves sessile, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, broadest just above the ciliolate base, 2-3 



cm. long, 2-6 mm. wide, the lower smaller; cymes diffuse; pedicels spreading, slender; bracts 



scarious, 2-6 mm. long ; sepals lanceolate, acute, 4-5 mm. long, 3-nerved ; petals about the length 



of the sepals, 2-cleft ; capsule oblong-ovoid, longer than the sepals ; seeds finely roughened. 



In wet places, Boreal and Humid Transition Zones; introduced about Seattle and Pullman, Washington; 

 also on the Atlantic coast. Native of Europe. May-July. 



