86 CARYOPHYLLACE^. (PINK FAMILY.) 



many others clustered in the axils ; cyme diffuse, naked, many -flowered ; sepals 

 pointed, 3-ribbed, ovate, as long as the pod. (A. stricta, Michx.) — Rocks and 

 dry wooded banks, Vt. and Penn. to Minn., Mo., and southwestward. July. 



3. A. verna, L. Dwarf, alpine, densely matted, glabrous or (var. mrtTA) 

 somewhat pubescent, 1-3' high; leaves narrowly linear or aAvl-shaped ; flow- 

 ers loosely cymose ; sepals lanceolate, pointed, 3-nerved, shorter than the pod. 

 — Smuggler's Notch, Vt. (Pringle) ; north and westward. (Eu.) 



* * Leaves soft and herbaceous, Jilif or m4inear ; petals retuse or notched. 



4. A. patula, ]\Iichx. Diffusely branched from the slender root ; stems 

 filiform (6-10' long) ; branches of the cyme diverging ; peduncles long ; sepals 

 lanceolate, acuminate, 3 - b-nerved. (A. Pitcheri, Nutt.) — S. W. Va. to Ky., 

 111., Kan., and southward. 



5. A. Grcenlcindica, Spreng. (Mountain S.) Densely tufted from 

 slender roots, smooth ; flowering stems filiform, erect (2-4' high), few-flow- 

 ered ; sepals oblong, obtuse, nerveless. — Summit of the Shawangunk, Catskill, 

 and Adirondack Mountains, N. Y., of the higher mountains of New Eng., and 

 northward; alpine or subalpine. At Bath, Maine, on river-banks near the 

 sea, and near Middletown, Ct. June -Aug. — Leaves and peduncles 3-6" 

 long ; flowers large in proportion. 



§ 3. MCEHRINGIA. Parts of the flower sometimes in fours ; pod as in § 1, 

 but the young ovary 3-celled ; seeds rather few, smooth, with a thickish ap- 

 pendage (strophiole) at the hilum ; perennials, ivith flaccid broadish leaves. 



6. A. lateriflora, L. Sparingly branched, erect, minutely pubescent; 

 leaves oval or oblong, obtuse (j- 1' long) ; peduncles 2- (rarely 3 - 4-) flowered, 

 soon becoming lateral ; sepals oblong, obtuse. — Gravelly shores, etc., New 

 Eng. to Penn., Mo., Minn., and northward. May, June. (Eu.) 



§ 4. AMMADENIA. Styles, cells of the ovary, and valves of the fleshy pod 

 3, rarely 4 or 5; seeds few, smooth, short-beaked at the naked hilum; disk 

 under the ovary more prominent than usual, glandular, lO-lobed ; flowers 

 almost sessile in the axils, sometimes dioecious or polygamous ; root perennial. 



7. A. peploides, L. Stems (simple or forking from long rootstocks, 

 6-10' high) and ovate partly-clasping leaves (8-10" long) very fleshy. (Hon- 

 kenya peploides, Ehrh.) — Sands of the sea-shore, N. J. to Maine and north- 

 ward. June. (Eu.) 



7. STELLARIA, L. Chickweed. Starwort. 



Sepals 4-5. Petals 4-5, deeply 2-cleft, sometimes none. Stamens 8, 10, 



or fewer. Styles 3, rarely 4 or 5, opposite as many sepals. Pod ovoid, 1 -celled, 



opening by twice as many valves as there are styles, several - many-seeded. 



Seeds naked. — Flowers (white) solitary or cymose, terminal, or appearing 



lateral by the prolongation of the stem from the upper axils. (Name from 



Stella, a star, in allusion to the star-shaped flowers.) 



* Stems spreading, flaccid, marked longitudinally icith one or two pubescent 



lines ; leaves ovate or oblong, ^-2i' long. 



S. MEDIA, Smith. (Common Chickweed.) Annual or nearly so ; lower 

 leaves on hairy petioles . petals shorter than the calyx, 2-parted , stamens 3-10. 

 — Everywhere in damp grounds. (Nat. from Eu.) 



