PINK FAMILY 483 



Petals longer than the sepals; flowers irregularly eymose, the cymes terminal, often 



reduced to a single longpediceled tlower 4. S. longipcs. 



Bracts foliaceous. 



Leaves shorter than internodes; petals shorter than the sepals or none. 



Flowers eymose ; leaves mostly lanceolate 5. S. borealis. 



Flowers solitary in the axils; leaves ovate 6. S. crispa. 



Leaves longer than internodes; petals equaling or slightly exceeding sepals; seashore 



species 7. S. littoralis. 



Petals merely retuse or bifid, exceeding the calyx; herbage glandular-pubescent 



8. S. jamesiana. 



1. S. media Cyi-. Common Chickweed. Slightly succulent, with weak pro- 

 cumbent stems, rooting at the lower nodes; lower leaves ovate, acute, rather 

 abrujDtly contracted into slender petioles, the upper narrower, sessile; floral 

 bracts foliaceous; pedicels slender, deflexed in fruit; petals shorter than the 

 pubescent sepals; stamens 3, 5 or 10; capsule ovoid, slightly exceeding the 

 calyx. 



Introduced from Europe. Common weed along fence lines and ditches and 

 shaded half-waste places generally. Feb.-May. Stems with a pubescent line, 

 and petioles of lower leaves hairy. 



Eefs.— Stellaria media Cyr. Char. Coram. 36 (1784) ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 167 (1901). 

 Alsine media L. Sp. PI. 272 (1753), type European. 



2. S. nitens Nutt. Shining Chickweed. Stems erect, filiform, branching 

 above. 3 to 7 (or 10) inches higli, glabrous or slightly hairy below; leaves 

 linear, acute, sessile, 2 to 7 lines long, or the very lowest ovate, 1 to 3 lines 

 long, abruptly contracted into slender petioles nearly twice as long; inflo- 

 rescence strict, the pedicels erect, % inch long or less, or some of the. flowers 

 quite sessile; bracts scarious; sepals scarious-margined, subulate-lanceolate, 2 

 lines long; petals i/o as long as the sepaLs, sometimes none; cap.sule oblong, 

 nearly as long as the calyx. 



Grassy hillsides and plains, a somewhat obscure plant. Coast Ranges, Great 

 Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills, south to the hills of Southern California 

 from the coast to the inner ranges. North to British Columbia and east to 

 Utah. Apr.-May. 



Locs. — Yreka, Butler 1158; Humboldt Bay, Traey 3126; Vaca Mts., Jepson; Araquipa Hills, 

 Solano Co., Jepson 528; San Jose, A. E. Bush; Greenhorn Pass, Purpus 5699; San Bernardino, 

 Parish; Witch Creek, San Diego Co., Alderson. 



Refs.— STELL.utiA NITENS Xutt. ; T. & G. Fl. 1: 185, 675 (1838), type loc. Columbia River 

 plains, NuttaU; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 167 (1901). Alsine ititens Greene, Man. Bay Reg. 

 33 (1894). 



3. S. umbellata Turcz. Stems slender, weak, ascending from a rooting base, 

 3 to 10 inches high; herbage glabrous; leaves ovate to oblong or those above 

 the base oblong-lanceolate, acute. 4 to 8 lines long; flowers in regular or more 

 or less irregular umbels, the ainbels terminal on the stem or forks of the cyme ; 

 pedicels I/2 to I14 inches long; sepals % to 1 line long: petals minute or none; 

 capsule twice as long as the calyx. 



Rare, southern Sierra Nevada, 7000 to 8000 feet. East to the Rocky :\Its. 

 Eastern Siberia. 



Locs. — Soda Springs, Tuolumne Mdws., Congdon ; Peregoy's Mdw., near Yosemite (aec. 

 Gray, Bot. Cal. 1: 69) ; near Mineral King (ace. Coville) ; White Mts. (aee. Coville). 



Refs. — Stell.\ria umbellat-\ Turcz. Bull. Soc. Nat. Mose. 89 (1838), nomen; 15; 173 

 (1842), type Silirrinn. Alsine haicalensis Cov. Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 4: 70 (1893). 



4. S. longipes Goldie. (Fig. 97a, b.) Stems strictly erect, 5 to 12 inches 

 liigh. from slender running rootstocks; at high altitudes dwarfish and densely 

 matted; herbage glabrous; lower leaves oblong to linear. 3 to 6 lines long, or 

 the upper linear-lanceolate. 6 to 10 lines long; flowers solitary and terminal, or 

 in irregular termiiinl cymes, the jiedicels of variable length (',4 to li/. inches 



