CARYOPHYLLE^. 121 



nearly straight, much longer than the calyx. — One of the most common 

 weeds of early spring ; the corolla expanding only in sunshine or at 

 mid-day. Native of Europe. Feb. — Apr. 



2. C. vuLGATUM, Linn. Sp. PI. 2d ed. i. 627 (1762). Much like the 

 last, but root perennial : stems cespitosely branched at base : leaves 

 oblong ; bracts scarious tipped : fl. more densely clustered and larger : 

 fruiting pedicels much longer : sepals obtuse : jjetals equalling the 

 calyx. Common enough in Oregon and Washington, this has been but 

 once noticed in California ; Plumas Co., Mrs. Austin. 



3. C. arvense, Linn. Sp. PI. i. 438 (1753). Perennial, cespitose, downy 

 with reflexed hairs, the inflorescence somewhat viscid : branches 4—8 in. 

 high: leaves linear-lanceolate, 4— 10 lines long, acutish: cyme contracted, 

 bearing about 3 flowers (sometimes 5 ; as often 1 only), the branches 

 ascending, often little exceeding the pedicel of the first flower ; bracts 

 ovate, obtuse, siiberect : sepals ovate-oblong, obtuse, scarious-margined, 

 11^— 2 lines long: the obcordate petals twice as long: capsule nearly 

 straight, little exceeding the calyx. Var. maximum, Holl. & Britt. 

 Bull. Torr. Club, xiv. 47. t, 64 (1887). Often 1% ft. high : leaves linear 

 to lanceolate, often 2 in. long : cyme not only repeatedly dichotomous 

 (12— 20-flowered), but the branches almost divaricate ; floral bracts 

 lanceolate and spreading : capsule more than twice the length of the 

 calyx.— The type, quite like the European plant in all respects, is common 

 on rocky and bushy hills about San Francisco, crossing the straits into 

 Marin Co., but not reported east of the Bay. The variety, of which the 

 most pronounced type is from Humboldt Co., Marshall, is in the State 

 Survey collection as from Mendocino Co., Bolander. 



4. C. pilosum, Ledeb. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. v. 359 (1815) : C. 

 ohIongifoUuin, Pac. K. Eep. iv. 70. Perennial, erect, stout, more or less 

 densely pilose, the inflorescence glandular-viscid : leaves oblong-lanceo- 

 late, 1-2 — 1 in. long, 1—6 lines broad, acute, almost sheathing at base : 

 fl. few, large, in a terminal leafless cyme : sepals 3—4 lines long, obtuse; 

 petals longer : capsule 6 —10 lines long, the slender teeth at length 

 circinate-revolute.— A remarkable Siberian and Alaskan species, said to 

 have been found long ago, on Point Eeyes, Bigelow. 



6. STELLARIA, LinnR'us (Chickweed). Low herbs with mostly 

 quadrangular stems, no stipules, and small axillary and solitary, or 

 terminal and cymose white flowers. Flowers as in Ceraslium, but styles 

 usually 3 only, sometimes 2 or 4. Capsule globose or oblong, cleft below 

 the middle into twice as many valves as there are styles. 

 * Leaves ovale, peliolale ; root annual. 



1. S. MEDIA, With. Bot. Arr. 418 (1776) ; Vill. Dauph. iii. 615 (1789) ; 



