TRIANDRIA— TRIGYNIA. Holosteum. 187 



2 round lobes. Germ, superior, turbinate, 3-lobed. Styles 

 very short. Stigmas 3, oblong, downy on their upper side. 

 Caps, turbinate, of 1 cell and 3 valves. Seeds 3, roundish- 

 kidney-shaped, dotted. " The calyx has sometimes 3 

 leaves, in which case there are 5 stamens" Linn. 

 Annual, herbaceous, with opposite leaves, and terminal 

 Jlowers. Only 1 species known. 



1. M.fontana. Water Blinks. Water Chickweed. 



M. fontana. Linn. Sp. PL 129. Willd. v. I. 487. FL Br. 161. 

 Engl. Bot. vA7.t. 1206. Curt. Lond.fasc.3. t.S. Hook. Scot. 47. 

 Schrad. Germ. v. 1.414. FL Dan. t. 131. Ehrh. Herb. 72. 



M. aquatica minor. Mich. Gen. 18. t. 13./. 2. 



M. n. 301. Hall. Hist. v. 1. 132. 



Alsine parva palustris tricoccos, portulacse aquaticse similis. Rail 

 Syn. 352. 



Alsineformis paludosa tricarpos, flosculis albis inapertis. Pluk. 

 Phyt. t. 7. f. 5. Vaill. Par. 1 0. t. 3.f. 4. 



Cameraria arvensis et minor. Dill. Giss.46. append. 1 14. t.6 ; bad. 



In watery places, by the sides of little clear rills, especially on a 

 gravelly soil. 



Annual. April, May. 



Root fibrous. Herb smooth, rather succulent. Stem 2 or 3 inches 

 high, much branched, spreading, angular, leafy. Leaves elliptic- 

 lanceolate, entire, on short stalks. FL small, white. Cal. reddish. 

 Seeels black. Valves of the capsule permanent, involute at the 

 margins. _ . . 



Micheli delineates a larger variety, not yet observed in Britain. 



63. HOLOSTEUM. Jagged Chickweed. 



Linn.Gen.42. Juss. 299. Fl.Br.l6l. Lam.t.5l. Gartn.t. 130. 



Nat. Ord. Caryophyllece. Linn. 22. Juss. 82. See Gram- 

 mar 161. N.64, 79, and many in Decandria, the same. 



Cal. inferior, of 5 ovate, concave, permanent leaves. Petals 5, 

 oblong, unequally jagged or toothed, deciduous. Filam. 3, 

 occasionally more, capillary. Anth. roundish. Germ. 

 roundish. Styles 3, slender, short. Stigmas bluntish, 

 downy. Caps, nearly cylindrical, of 1 cell, splitting at 

 the top into 6 recurved teeth, finally separable into as 

 many pellucid valves. Recept. central, oblong. Seeds 

 stalked, peltate, roundish, rough, numerous. 



Herbaceous, erect, or prostrate, smooth, rather glaucous. 

 Leaves opposite, undivided, entire. FL umbellate, or 

 panicled, white. 



