58 caryophtllacejE. (pink family.; 



2. A. Miclmtixii, Fenzl. Erect, or usually diffusely spreading from a 

 small root, smooth ; leaves slender, between awl-shaped and bristle-form, with many 

 Others clustered in the axils ; cyme diffuse, naked, many-flowered ; sepals pointed, 

 3-ribbed, ovate, as long as the pod. 1J. (Arcnaria stricta, Michx.) — Rocks and 

 dry wooded banks, Vermont to Wisconsin and Kentucky. July. 



* * Leaves soft and herbaceous, filiform-linear : petals retuse or notched. 



3. A. pat&fila. Diffusely branched from the slender root ; stems filiform 

 (6' -10' long) ; branches of the cyme diverging ; peduncles long ; sepals lanceo- 

 late, acuminate, 3-nerved, petals spatulate, emarginate. (Arenaria patula, Michx.) 

 — Cliffs of Kentucky River, and mountains of Western Virginia. July. — 

 Smoothish : leaves A'-l' long. 



4. A. <*r«BMlisBidica, Fenzl. (Mountain Sandwort.) Densely 

 tufted from slender roots, smooth; stems filiform, erect (2' -4' high), few-flow- 

 ered ; sepals oblong, obtuse, nerveless ; petals obovatc, somewhat notched. 1J. 

 (Stellaria Greenland ica, Retz. Arenaria Groenlandica, Spreng.) — Summit of 

 the Shawangunk, Catskill, and Adirondack MouRtains, New York, and of all 

 the higher mountains of New England, and northward ; alpine or subalpine. 

 At Bath, Maine, on river-banks near the sea. June- Aug. — Leaves and pedun- 

 cles 3" -6" long; flowers large in proportion. 



A. glabra, of the mountain-tops in Carolina, may occur on those of Virginia. 



§. ABEMABIA, L. Sandwort. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, entire, rarely wanting. Stamens 10. Styles 3, rarely 2 

 or 4. Ovary 1 -celled. Pod many-seeded, opening above by as many valves as 

 there are styles, each valve soon splitting into two. Seeds naked at the hilum. 

 (Name from arena, sand, in which many of the species love to grow.) 



1. A. serpyllifolia, L. (Thyme-leaved Sandwort.) Diffusely 

 branched, roughish (2'- 6' high) ; leaves ovate, acute (small) ; sepals lanceolate, 

 pointed, 3 - 5-nervcd, about as long as the petals and the 6-toothed pod. Q) — 

 Sandy waste places. June -Aug. (Nat. from Eu.) 



A. diffusa, Ell., will probably be found in Southern Virginia. 



9. MCEHKINGIA, L. M<ehringia. 



Seeds strophiolate, i. e. with a thiekish appendage at the hilum, smooth. 

 Young ovary 3-celled. Otherwise nearly as in Arenaria. — Flaccid herbs; the 

 parts of the flower sometimes in fours. (Named for Mahring, a German botanist.) 



1. M. lateriflora, L. Sparingly branched, erect, minutely pubescent ; 

 leaves oval or oblong, obtuse; peduncles 2- (rarely 3-4-) flowered, becoming 

 Lateral ; sepals oblong, obtuse, shorter than the petals. 1J. (Arenaria lateri- 

 flora, L.) — Shady gravelly banks, Maine to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and 

 northward. May, June. — Leaves J' to 1' long : corolla £' broad, white. (Eu.) 



10. STELLARIA, L. Chickweed. Star wort. 



Sepals 4-5. Petals 4-5, deeply 2-cleft, sometimes none. Stamens 8, 10, 

 or fewer. Styles 3 - 4, rarely 5, opposite as many sepals. Ovary 1 -celled. Pod 



