62 XTI. CARYOPHYLLACE.J. 



times imperfect I3' 2— 5-cellecl at the base ; ovules 2 or many, on slender 

 basal funicles which are either free or united into a column, amphi- 

 tropous ; styles 2-5, stigmatose within at the upper part, or rarely from 

 the base, free or more or less united. Capsule membranous or crusta- 

 ceous, I'arely sub-baccate, opening by as many valves as there are styles 

 (or twice as many), rarely indehiscent or bursting tninsversely. Seeds 

 generally numerous (rarely few or solitary) ; testa membranous or crus- 

 taceous ; albumen farinaceous, rarely fleshy ; embryo usually more or 

 less curved ; cotyledons narrow, incumbent, rarely accumbent. — Distrib. 

 Throughout the globe ; chiefly in extratropical regions of the N. hemi- 

 sphere ; genera 35 ; species about 800. 



Stipules 0. 



Sepals united into a 4-5-lobed or -toothed calyx. 



Styles 2 1. Saponaria. 



Styles 3 2. Silene. 



Sepals separate. 



Capsule long, cylindric, twice as long as the sepals ; 



petals 2-fid 3. Cerastium. 



Capsule short, ovoid, a little longer than the sepals ; 



petals 2-fid 4. Stellaria. 



Capsule short, about equalling the sepals ; petals entire . 5. Auenaria. 

 Stipules scarious. 



Valves of capsule 5 ; styles 5, free 6. Spergula. 



Valves of capsule 3 ; styles 3, combined. 



Sepals keeled 7. Po lycarpon. 



Sepals not keeled 8. Polycarp.ba. 



1. SAPONARIA, Linn. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves flat. Flowers in dichotomous 

 cymes. Calyx more or less tubular, ovoid or oblong, 5-toothed, nerves 

 obscure. Petals 5, with a narrow claw ; limb entire or emarginate, with 

 or without a basal scale. Stamens 10. Torus small or produced into a 

 short gyuophore. Ovary 1-celled or septate at the very base ; ovules 

 many ; styles 2. Capsule ovoid or oblong, opening at the apex by 

 4 teeth or short valves. Seeds reniform or subglobose, laterally com- 

 pressed, having the hilum on one of the margins ; embryo hemispheric, 

 forming nearly a circle. — Distrib. South Europe, the Mediterranean 

 region, and extratropical Asia ; species 30. 



1. Saponaria Vaccaria, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 409. A tall 

 robust annual, 1-2 ft. high ; branches quite glabrous. Leaves 1-2| by 

 |-| in., sessile, glabrous ; the lower oblong, acute; the upper oblong- 

 lanceolate, very acute or mucronate. Flowers in corymbose dichotomous 

 cymes ; pedicels slender, 1-2 in. long ; bracts foliaceous. Calyx | in. 

 long, ventricose in fruit, with 5 broad green nerves and scarious margins ; 

 teeth triangular. Petals rosy, obovate, slightly emarginate ; daw shortly 

 exserted; limb ^ in. long. Capsules included, broadly ovoid. Seeds 

 globo.se, black, granulate. Fl. B. I. v. 1, p. 217 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, v. 1, 

 p. 525 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1897) p. 124 ; Watt, Diet. 

 Econ. Prod. v. G, part 2, p. 473. — Flowers : Feb. Yern. Sdhani. 



A weed of cultivation, met with in wheat-fields and cultivated ground throughout 

 India. Konkan: Panwell, Woodrow I Dkccan: Nasik, Cooke \, IVoodrowl; Maha- 

 bleshwar, \Voodrow\ — Disthib. A weed of cultivation tin-oughout temperate and 

 f-ubtropical countries. 



