86 



FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



dry places, is a similar little plant, smooth and prostrate, with 

 very small white flowers that appear in May and bloom till the end 

 of the summer. The peduncles of this species curve backward 

 just after flowering, but become erect afterwards ; and the sepals, 



THE PROCUMBENT PEARLWORT. 



which are sometimes five in number, are not close against the fruit, 

 as in the last, but spreading. 



The genus Stellaria includes some plants with pretty, white, 

 star-like flowers, some of which adorn our hedgerows in early spring. 

 The most conspicuous of these is the Greater Stitch wort or Satin 

 Flower {S. Holostea), the flowers of which are three-quarters of an 

 inch in diameter, and are arranged in loose, leafy cymes. The 

 sepals have no veins, and are about half as long as the petals, which 



