332 DECANDRIA— PENTAGYNIA. Cerastium. 



In waste or sandy ground ; also on walls in the outskirts of towns 

 or villages, very frequent. 



j3. On dry banks near Croydon, Surrey. Mr. Dickson. 



Animal. March, April. 



Root small, fibrous. Colour and habit of the whole plant most 

 like the last, but every part is much smaller, and the herbage 

 often turns reddish. Stem solitary, simple or branched, spread- 

 ing at the base only, otherwise erect, usually about 3 inches 

 high, sometimes twice as much, viscid in the upper part. Leaves 

 oyate-oblong J the lower ones smoothest. Panicle spreading, 

 viscid. Flower-stalks longer than the calyx, bent down as the 

 flowers fade, but finally erect. Calyx-leaves rough and gluti- 

 nous, obtuse, with a broad white shining margin. Pet. pure 

 white, conspicuous, though shorter than the calyx, slightly 

 cloven at the tip, sometimes cut at the side, but irregularly and 

 accidentally. 5tom. 5, very rarely more. Styles 5. Co/j*. slightly 

 curved, twice as long as the calyx. Seeds rough, compressed. 



/3 differs slightly in the size of its petals, which are cloven about a 

 third of their length. 



Haller attributes 3 styles only to his n. 894. I have never seen or 

 heard of fewer than 5 in the Cerastium semidecandrum, which is 

 indubitably a most distinct species, displaying itself on every 

 wall in the early spring, and withering away before the viscosum 

 begins to put forth its far less conspicuous blossoms. 



4. Q>. tetrandrum. Four-cleft Mouse-ear Chickweed. 



Hairy and somewhat viscid. Flowers four-cleft, with four 

 stamens. Petals inversely heart-shaped, shorter than 

 the taper-pointed calyx, which is nearly as long as the 

 capsule. 



C.tetrandrum. Curt. Lond.fasc.6. t.3l. Fl.Br.498. Comp.72. 

 Hook. Scot. 143. Hoffm. Germ, for 1800. 212. 



Sagina cerastoides. Sm. Tr. of L. Soc. v. 2. 343. Engl. Bot. v. 3. 

 1. 166. Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 10.4. Dryandr. Bibl. Banks, u.3.244. 



On the sandy sea coast, walls, and waste ground. 



Upon walls about Edinburgh, as well as on the Calton hill, and 

 Arthur's Seat, 1782. Since found by Mr. Dickson, on Inch 

 Keith and Inch Combe, in the Frith of Forth, and on the beach 

 below Preston-pans. Professor Hooker in a note, Fl. Scot. 1 43, 

 says it grows near Yarmouth, Norfolk j but I have not seen 

 specimens. 



Annual. May, .June. 



Root small and slender. Herb of a bright light green, clothed 

 with short dense hairs, and somewhat viscid. Stems several, 

 spreading, or partly procumbent, branched, forked, leafy, from 

 2 to 6 inches high in a wild state. Leaves elliptic-oblong ; the 

 upper ones short and ovate. Floiver-stalks nearly thrice the 



