28 CARYOPHYLLACEAE. [Von IL. 
8. Cerastium cerastioides (I.) Britton. 
Starwort Chickweed. (Fig. 1491.) 
Stellaria cerastioides I,. Sp. Pl. 422. 1753. 
Cerastium trigynum Vill. Hist. Pl. Dauph. 3:645. 1789. 
Cerastium cerastioitdes Britton, Mem. Torr. Club, 5: 
150. 1894. 
Perennial, glabrous except a line of minute hairs 
along one side of the stem and branches, rarely 
pubescent throughout. Flowering branches as- 
cending, 3’-6’ long; leaves linear-oblong, 4//-8/’ 
long, about 1’’ wide, obtuse, the lower often smaller 
and slightly narrowed at the base; flowers solitary 
or few, 5//-6’’ broad, long-pedicelled; petals 2- 
lobed, twice the length of the obtuse or acutish 
scarious-margined sepals; capsule nearly straight, 
twice the length of the calyx; styles 3, rarely 4 or 5; 
sepals and petals 5 or 4. 
Gaspé, Quebec, and in arctic America, Also in arctic 
and alpine Europe and Asia. Summer. 
12. HOLOSTEUM L., Sp. Pl. 88.1753. 
Annual erect herbs, often viscid-pubescent above, with cymose-umbellate, white flowers 
on long terminal peduncles. Sepals5. Petals 5, emarginate or eroded. Stamens 3-5, hy- 
pogynous. Styles 3. Ovary t-celled, many-ovuled. Capsule ovoid-cylindrical, dehiscent 
by 6 short valves or teeth. Seeds compressed, attached by the inner face, rough. [Greek, 
signifying a// bone, an antiphrase, the herbs being tender. ] 
About 3 species, natives of Europe and temperate Asia. 
y 
1. Holosteum umbellatum L. Jagged 
Chickweed. (Fig. 1492.) 
Holosteum umbellatum I, Sp. Pl. 88. 1753. 
Glabrous or slightly downy below, viscid and 
glandular-pubescent above, simple, tufted, 5/—12/ 
high. Basal leaves spreading, oblanceolate or 
oblong; stem-leaves oblong, acute or obtuse, ses- 
sile, %’-1’ long; umbel terminal, 3-8-flowered; 
pedicels very slender, about 1’ long, erect or as- 
cending in flower, subsequently reflexed and again 
erect when the fruit is mature; flowers white, 2//— 
3’’ broad; sepals obtuse, about 2’” long, scarious- 
margined, somewhat shorter than the eroded petals; 
capsule ovoid, nearly twice the length of the sepals, 
its teeth recurved. 
Very abundant in the vicinity of Lancaster, Pa.; 
Delaware. Naturalized from Europe. Native also of 
northern Asia. April-May. 
13. MOENCHIA Ehrh. Beitr. 2: 177 L788. 
Low aunual glabrous herbs, with small narrow sessile leaves. Flowers rather large, ter- 
minal, solitary or cymose, 4-parted or sometimes 5-parted, white. Sepals scarious-margined, 
lanceolate. Petalsentire. Stamens 4-10. Styles as many as the sepals and opposite them. 
Capsule cylindric, equalling or shorter than the calyx, 8-toothed or rarely 1o-toothed, the 
teeth somewhat revolute at maturity. [In honor of Konrad Moench, Professor in Marburg. } 
Two or three species, natives of the Mediterranean region. 
