Stellaria. CARYOPHYLLACE^. 233 



S. nitens, Nutt. Annual, slender, erect, shining: stems filiform, forked several times, 

 leafy and slightly pubescent near the base, almost naked and quite glabrous above : leaves 

 of two forms, the lowest (1 to 3 pairs) ovate, acute, only 2 lines long, on slender petioles of 

 somewhat greater length, not always persisting; the other leaves lunce-linear, acute, 3 to 5 

 lines long: sepals very acute, scarious-margined, 1-3-nerved : petals half as long as the 

 sepals, sometimes absent : capsule oblong, about equalling the calyx. — Nutt. in Torr. & 

 Gray, Fl. i. 185; Torr. Pacif. K. Rep. iv. 69, & Bot. Mex. Bound. 37; Gray, Proc. Am. 

 Acad. viii. 378. <S. mcenchi aides, Fenzl ace. to Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 675. S. stricta, Hook. 

 Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 96, in part. Alslne nitens, Greene, Man. Bay-Reg. 33. — S. California to 

 Brit. Columbia, Macoun ; eastward to Utah, Jones ; fl. April, May. (Lower Calif.) 



S. GRAMfNEA, L., with Seldom persistent but sometimes slightly petiolate lower leaves, may 

 possibly be sought here. 



-t— •)— Leaves all sessile or subsessile. 



++ Bracts small, scarious. 



= Flowers small : petals minute or none. 



S. Umbellata, Turcz. Smooth : stems weak, ascending from a decumbent rooting base : 

 leaves varying from lanceolate and acute to elliptic-oblong, 3 to 8 lines in length : pedicels 

 filiform, sub-umbellately grouped at the ends of the branches, often deflexed : sepals small, 

 1 to Ij lines in length, glabrous, scarious-margined: capsule twice as long; valves deeply 

 2-toothed; teeth obtuse.— Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 1838, 89, xv (1842), 173, Cat. Baic. 5, & Fl. 

 Baic.-Dahur. i. 236 ; Fenzl in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 394 ; Regel, Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. xxxv. 

 264, 280; Wats. Bot. King Exp. 38; Porter & Coulter, Fl. Col. 13; Brew. & Wats. Bot. 

 Calif, i. 67. S. borenlis, var.. Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 94. .Alsine Baicalensis, Coville, Contrib. 

 U. S. Nat. Herb. iv. 70. — Mountains of Colorado and Arizona, also Sierras of S. Central 

 California, Coville, to Union Co., Oregon, Cusick; fl. July, August. (Asia.) 



= = Flowers of medium size : petals equalling or exceeding the calyx (except sometimes 

 in S. uliginosa). 



a. Seeds essentially smooth. 



S. longifolia, Muhl. Stems sharply 4-augled, commonly 8 inches or more in height : 

 leaves linear or linear-oblong, somewhat narrowed at each end, thickish, often ciliate toward 

 the base ; the larger ones 1;^ to H inches long : flowers rather numerous in a lateral long- 

 peduncled open cyme ; pedicels spreading, horizontal or deflexed : petals and capsule ex- 

 ceeding the sepals : seeds smooth. — Cat. 45 ; Willd. Enum. 479 ; Fenzl, 1. c. 392 ; Gray, 

 Gen. 111. ii. 38, t. 113, f. 1-5. S. (jraminea, Bigel. Fl. Bost. 110. Sperc/ulastrmn graini- 

 nenin, Michx. Fl. i. 276. Micropetalon gramineum, Pers. Syn. i. 509. M. longifolia, Eat. & 

 Wright, N. A. Bot. 319. Alsine longifolia, Britton, Mem. Torr. Club, v. 150. — Newfound- 

 land to Maryland, westward to the Rocky Mts. and northward to Alaska ; fl. June, July. 

 (Eu., Asia.) 



S. longipes, Goldie. Smooth and shining or more or less glaucous, spreading at the base : 

 branches erect, 3 to 12 inches high: leaves linear or lance-linear, gradually narrowed from 

 the base to the acute apex, 1-nerved, 8 to 12 lines in length, spreading: flowers irregularly 

 cymose : peduncles terminal or rarely and tardily somewhat lateral; pedicels elongated, 

 unequal, erect ; the lowest often more or less distinctly axillary : sepals oblong-lanceolate : 

 capsule exceeding the calyx, acutish, dark and shining; seeds very smooth. — Edinb. Phil. 

 Jour. vi. 327; Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 95; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 184 (vars. a, 0, y) ; Fenzl, 

 1. c. 386. S. palustris, Richards, in Frankl. 1st Journ. ed. 1, App. 738 (reprint, p. 10). 

 S. stricta, Richards. 1. c. ed. 2, App. 743 (reprint, p. 15). S. Iceta, Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 

 ii. 169. S.glauca, Meyer, PI. Lab. 93. ^S". cvassifolia, Wats. Bot. King Exp. 38. S. longi- 

 folia, Rothr. Enum. PI. Cent. Col. 35. ? Micropetalon gramineum, James, Cat. 181. Alsine 

 longipes, Coville, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. iv. 70. — A very variable species marked by its 

 long dark-colored acutish capsules and very smooth seeds. It is widely di.stributed from 

 Maine to Arctic America, and from Alaska (also Siberia) southward along tlie Rocky Mts. 

 to Colorado, and on the Pacific Slope to San Bernardino, Parish. The commoner form has 

 acute sepals and leaves varying imperceptibly from flaccid and spreading to erect and some- 

 what pungent (var. j3 MfNOR, Hook. 1. c. ; S. stricta, Richards. 1. c, etc.). The typical form, 



