34 



CARYOPHYLLACE^. 



Spergula arvensis. 



Cultivated land, Bridgewater. 

 — Sept.-Dec. — Almost cosmopoli- 

 tan. 



Spcrgularia rubra, Pers., Sand 

 Spnrry, with short pedicels, cap- 

 sule equalling calyx and tuber- 

 culate seeds, is a common road- 

 side weed. S. media, Pers., with 

 long pedicels, capsule exceeding 

 calyx, and winged seeds, is 

 usually found near the sea-coast. 

 Both have linear leaves, are 

 almost world-wide in their distri- 

 bution, and are considered indi- 

 genous to Australia. They are 

 very variable plants, and pro- 

 bably many of our specimens are 

 introduced. 



4. Cerastium, L. 



(From the Greek Irras, a horn ; 

 alluding to the shape of the 



capsule.) 

 1. Cerastium vulgratum, 



ii. Morisc-car Chickicrcd. Annual 

 or sometimes biennial ; downy 

 with spreading, simple, or glan- 

 dular hairs ; stems erect or 

 ascending; radical leaves small, 

 stalked, stem-leaves ses.sile. oval 

 to oblong ; flowers white in 

 forked cymes; petals notched, 

 about as long as the sepals, 

 sometimes wanting ; capsule 

 cvlindrical, exceeding the calyx 

 more or less ; .styles sometimes 3 

 or 4, in which case the teeth of 

 the capsule are 6 or 8. 



Of this little weed Bentham 

 says (Brit. Fl, 71):— "Its pro- 

 tean forms have much puzzled 

 the botanists of many countries 

 to distinguish them into from 2 

 or 3 to 20 or 30 supposed 

 species." The most common 

 form near Adelaide is covered 

 with spreading hairs; leaves 

 broad-oval, blunt; flowers in 

 compact cymes; petals ciliate at base, equalling or slightly 

 exceeding the sepals; pedicels shorter than sepals; cap- 

 sule straight, nearly twice as long as the calyx (C. glomer- 

 atum, Thuillier). 



Cerastium vulgatum. 



