CARYOPHITLLACK^E. (i'lNK FAMILY.) 59 



ovoid, opening by twice as many valves as styles, several -many-seeded. Seeds 

 naked. — Flowers (white) terminal, or appearing lateral by the prolongation of 

 the stem from the upper axils. (Name from stella, a star, in allusion to the 

 star-shaped flowers.) 



# Stamens usually fewer than 10 : leaves broad. 



1. S. media, Smith. (Common Chickweed.) Stems spreading, marked 

 with an alternate pubescent line ; leaves ovate, the lower on hairy petioles ; petals 

 '2-parted, shorter than the calyx; stamens 3-10. Q (2) — Fields and around 

 dwellings, everywhere. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. S. pisbcra, Michx. (Great Chickweed.) Stems spreading, 

 marked with 2 opposite hairy lines; leaves all sessile, oblong or ovate (2' long) ; 

 petals deeply 2-cleft, longer than the calyx. ]\. — Shaded rocks, Penn. to Kentucky 

 and southward. May. 



* * Stamens mostly 10 : manifestly perigynous : perennial: leaves nairow, sessile: 



plants glabrous throughout. 

 •o- Scaly-bracted : petals 2-parted, equalling or surpassing the calyx. 



3. §. loilgifolia, Muhl. (Stitchwort.) Stem branching above; 

 weak, often with rough angles (8'- 18' high) ; leaves linear, acutish at both ends, 

 spreading ; cymes naked and at length lateral, peduncled, many-flowered, the slen- 

 der pedicels spreading ; petals 2-parted, soon longer than the calyx ; seeds smooth. 

 ■ — Grassy places, common, especially northward. June, July. (Eu.) 



4. S. longipcs, Goldie. (Long-stalked Stitchwort.) Shining or 

 somewhat glaucous, very smooth ; leaves ascending, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 

 acute, broadest at the base, rather rigid ; cyme terminal, few-flowered, the long 

 pedicels strictly erect; petals longer than the calyx; seeds smooth. — Maine to 

 Wisconsin, rare : common farther north. (Eu.) 



5. S. tlligiisdsa, Murr. (Swamp Stitchwort.) Stems weak, de- 

 cumbent or diffuse, at length prolonged, leaving the naked and usually sessile 

 cymes lateral ; leaves lanceolate or oblong, veiny ; petals and ripe pods as long as the 

 calyx; seeds roughened. (S. aquatica, Pollich, Sfc.) — Swamps and rills, Phila- 

 delphia and Westchester, Pennsylvania (Darlington, &c), New Hampshire 

 (Blake), and northward in British America. (Eu.) 



■*- +- Leafy-bracted, the flowers in the forks of the stem or of leafy branches, even 

 the latest with foliaceous bracts ; petals 2-parted, small, or often none ; styles 3 -4 ; 

 pod longer than the calyx. 



6. S. CB'asss folia, Ehrhart. Stems diffuse or erect, flaccid ; leaves rather 

 fleshy, varying from linear-lanceolate to oblong ; petals longer than the calyx, or 

 wanting ; seeds rugose-roughened. — An apetalous 4 - 6-androus state is Sagina 

 fontinalis, Short Sp Piter. Cliffs of Kentucky River and Elkhorn Creek, form- 

 ing broad mats in springy places, Short. Ringwood, Illinois, Vasey. April, 

 May. — Also in British America. (Eu.) 



7. S. borealis, Bigelow. (Northern Stitchwort.) Stems erect or 

 spreading, flaccid, many times forked, at length resolved into a leafy cyme ; 

 leaves varying from broadly lanceolate to ovate-oblong ; petals 2-5, shorter than 

 the calyx, or oftener none ; sepals acute ; styles usually 4 ; seeds smooth — Shaded 



