Cerastiuinl\ CavyophyllacecB. 85 



nate; fruit a i -celled capsule, 3-valved or opening by teeth at 

 top ; seed with embryo usually curved round the mealy endo- 

 sperm. 



Leaves without stipules. Styles distinct {Alsinece). 



Styles 5. Capsule cylindrical, opening by 10 teeth . i. Cerastium. 



Styles 3. Capsule ovoid, opening by 3 teeth . . 2. Stellaria. 



Leaves with scarious stipules. Styles more or less combined {Polycarpece). 



Pet. bifid 3. Drymaria. 



Pet. entire or nearly so. 



Sep. keeled on the back 4. Polycarpon. 



Sep. all scarious 5. Polycarp^a. 



A very large extra-tropical and alpine family, scarcely (the tribe 

 Silenece not at all) represented here. Cerastium and Stellaria are 

 montane, and Drymaria extends into the lower montane zone ; the other 

 two genera are in the low country. 



I. CSRASTIUM, L. 



Herbs; fl. in dichotomous cymes; sep. 5, distinct; pet. 5. 

 distinct, bifid ; no disk ; stam. 10 ; ov. i-celled, with numerous 

 ovules on a central placenta, styles 5 ; capsule cylindrical, 

 membranous, splitting at top into 10 short teeth ; seeds 

 numerous. — Sp. about 40 ; 5 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Capsule scarcely longer than cal., teeth recurved . i. C. INDICUM. 

 Capsule twice as long as cal., teeth straight . . 2. C. vulgatum. 



I. C indicum, W. and A. Prod. 43 (1834). 



Thw. Enum. 24. C. P. 2957. 



Fl. B. Ind. i. 227. Wight, 111. i. t. 26. 



A perennial herb, with very weak, straggling, slender, 

 brittle, flaccid, hairy stems, 1-2 ft. or more ; 1. 1-2 in., nearly 

 sessile, linear-lanceolate, acute at both ends, hairy on both 

 sides, ciliate, thin ; fl. few, small, in terminal, dichotomous 

 cymes, ped. densely glandular-hairy ; sep. linear-lanceolate, 

 acute, glandular-hairy, with membranous margins ; pet. \ in., 

 longer than sep., linear-oblong or spathulate, bifid ; ov. ovoid- 

 oblong, styles 5 ; capsule a little longer than persistent sep., 

 membranous, opening at summit by 10 recurved teeth ; seeds 

 several, dark brown, muriculate. 



Upper montane zone ; common. Fl. Aug., Sept.; white. 



Also in the mountains of Southern India. 



I find the styles always 5, not 3 as given in Fl. B. Ind. 



* 2. C. vulg-atum, L. Fl Suec. ed. 2, 158 (1755), var. g-lomera- 

 tum, Thiiill. Fl. Par. (1790) (sp.). 

 Trim, in Journ. Bot. xxiii. 142. 

 Fl. B. Ind. i. 228. Wight, Ic. t. 948. 



