CLASS X. ORDER IV.] CERASTIUM. 651 



the calyx. Bracteas ovate lanceolate, herbaceous, the upper ones 

 with a narrow membranous margin. Calyx of five ovate lanceolate 

 segments, downy, with a mid-rib and smooth pale membranous margin. 

 Petals bifid, about as long as the calyx. Stamens with slender ^Za- 

 ments, and roundish ovate anthers, yellow, of two cells. Styles short, 

 with downy stigmas. Capsule pale thin smooth membranous cylin- 

 drical, as long again as the calyx, somewhat curved upwards with ten 

 slender ribs, terminating between the ten erect lanceolate obtuse teeth 

 at the mouth, having the margins rolled back. Seeds numerous, 

 small, kidney-shaped, dark brown, rough, with semi-circular lines of 

 elevated points. 



Habitat. — Walls, waste places, poor meadows, &;c. ; frequent. 



Perennial ; flowering during the summer months. 



This species, though nearly allied to the former, is readily distin- 

 guished by its oblong leaves, less downy segments of the calyx, having 

 a broadish smooth membranous margin, as well as the bracteas, and 

 the pedicle of the fruit is often twice or three times as long as the 

 calyx. The whole plant is more or less hairy and viscid ; it is very 

 variable in size, and the base is often much crowded with leaves, and 

 they are of a deeper duller green than those of C. vulgatum^ the stem 

 frequently dark purplish red. 



3. C. semidecan'drumy Linn. (Fig. 741.) Little Mouse-ear Chick- 

 weed. Stem erect, or ascending, hairy, viscid ; leaves oblong and 

 ovate, the lower ones narrowed into a petiole ; panicle branched, sub- 

 aggregate ; all the bractea and calyx segments with a pale membranous 

 erosed margin ; pedicles longer than the calyx ; petals slightly cloven, 

 about as long as the calyx. 



English Botany, t. 1630.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 331.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 216.— Lindley, Synopsis, p. 51. 



(3. pumilum. Lower bractea without a membranous margin ; petals 

 more deeply cloven. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 51. 



C. pumilum, Curt. Lond. fas. c. 6. t. 30. — Koch. Flora German, et 

 Helvet. p. 122. 



y. tetrandrum. Calyx petals and stamens mostly four. Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 51. 



C. tetrandrum, Curt. — Lond. fas. c. 6. t. SI.— Sagina cerastoides. 

 Smith. — English Botany, t. 166. (bad). — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. 

 p. 216.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 332. 



Root small, branched, fibrous. Stem from two to six inches high, 

 erect or ascending, simple or branched at the base, round, more or less 

 clothed with hairs, which are simple, or tipped with a gland, especially 

 in the upper part. Leaves opposite, ovate, or oblong ovate, the lower 

 ones tapering into a broadish footstalk, somewhat paler beneath than 

 above, with a stout mid-rib, and more or less clothed with short hairs. 

 Panicle terminal, of forked spreading branches, somewhat clustered at 

 the extremity, and with a solitary flower from the axis of the divarica- 



