40 SWISS FLOWERS. 



pastures of the Alps. Its head of pink flowers is rather 

 pyramidal, to which the ten stamens and the deep clefts of 

 the five petals give somewhat of a fringed appearance, 

 and add to its beauty. The leaves are smooth but not 

 clammy, those of the root massed together. High mountain- 

 pastures of the south-west of Switzerland : Riffel, Vallee 

 d'Anniviers, &c. 



24. Cerastium.— Chick^Areed. 



(PLATE XV.) 



We are, happily^ not called upon to go into the perplex- 

 ing varieties of the Cerastium, which, after all, does not 

 contain the Chickweed of the bird-keeper, which is a 

 Stellaria. The number of the styles, and the petals being 

 longer or shorter than the calyx, are some of the distinc- 

 tions mentioned, but these features cannot always be 

 relied on. 



C. latifolium (Fig. 24) — for this name we are inclined 

 to give to our figure — is a pretty plant trailing along the 

 ground, its large pearl-white flowers being much the 

 same as those of the well-known edging plant of our 

 gardens which sometimes goes by the name of Fair Maid 

 of Perth. The ten stamens, of a pale yellow, are not very 

 conspicuous, but, like most of the Cerastiums, its five petals 



