90 PINK FAMILY 



bracted panicle (solitary in dwarf specimens). Petals white, 

 cleft into 2 segments and often with a pair of small scales on 

 the claw, about equalled by the style. — Not common: Yo- 

 semite Valley; slopes west of Mono Lake. 



6. S. watsonii Rob. Plant with many slender erect stems, 

 10 in. or less high, from a compact leafy base, finely glandular. 

 Leaves narrowly linear, |4 to 2 in. long. Flowers y 2 to 24 in- 

 long, strictly erect, solitary or few, terminal. Petals white 

 or rose-color, the short blade with 2 lobes, each lobe usually 

 with a short lateral tooth, the claw with obtuse appendages. — 

 Of high altitudes; known by the straight stems, each termin- 

 ated by a large erect flower. 



S. douglasii Hook., of the Tahoe district and northward, 

 may be known, if found, by its narrow leaves and tall, nearly 

 glabrous stems each bearing 1 to 3 large, erect flowers. 



2. CERASTIUM. Mouse-ear Chickweed. 

 Pubescent branching herbs with sessile leaves and no sti- 

 pules. Sepals and petals 5 each, the latter white and notched 

 or cleft. Stamens 10 or 5. Styles 3. Capsule becoming 

 longer than the calyx, 10-toothed at apex. 



1. C. viscdsum L. Mouse-ear Chickweed. Leaves ovate 

 to elliptic, y 2 to 1 in. long. Flowers white, small, on short 

 pedicels. Petals not longer than sepals (scarcely % in.). 

 Stamens 10, 5 of them without anthers. — A homely annual 

 weed, 4 to 12 in. high, in fields and along roadsides. 



2. C. arvense L. Field Chickweed. Leaves linear, nar- 

 rowly lanceolate, acute, l / 2 to l J / 2 in. long. Flowers several in 

 each terminal cluster, erect, long-pediceled. Petals white, 

 twice as long as sepals, deeply notched. — A leafy-based per- 

 ennial, often matted, 4 to 8 in. high, growing in the crevices 

 of rocks along the Ledge Trail, at Vernal Falls, etc. 



3. STELLARIA. 



Low herbs, with numerous flat leaves and white slender- 

 pediceled flowers. Leaves entire (crisped in one species), 

 sessile. Sepals and petals 5 each, the latter always bifid or 

 divided into 2 lobes, rarely wanting. Stamens 3 to 10. Styles 

 3 or 4. (Alsine.) 



Petals shorter than the sepals, or wanting; stems weak. 



Leaves broad, long-petioled 1. S- media. 



Leaves sessile or nearly so. 



Flowers from the axils of very narrow bracts 2. S. nitens. 



Flowers in terminal umbels 3. S. umbellata. 



Flowers from the axils of broad leaves 4. S. crispa. 



