152 



CARYOPHYLLACE^E. (FINK FAMILY.) 



coiled into a complete ring. — Low herbs, growing on or near the sea-coast, with 

 fleshy opposite leaves, and smaller ones often clustered in the axils : stipules 

 scaly- membranaceous. (Name altered from Speryula.) 



1. §. rul>ra, Pcrs. Much branched, upright or spreading, smooth or vis- 

 cid-pubescent ; leaves filiform-linear, rather fleshy; petals purple-rose-color; 

 seeds marginless. ® (Arenaria rubra, L.) — Sandy sod, often considerably re- 

 mote from salt water, Maine to Virginia and southward. June - Sept. — Leaves 

 mostly shorter than the joints. Flowers about 2" broad. (Eu.) 



Var. lliarltia. Larger ; the leaves longer and more fleshy ; flowers 2-4 

 rimes larger; pods equalling or exceeding the calyx; seeds marginless (Arena- 

 ria rubra, var. marina, L.), or wing-margined (A. media, L.). (T) 1J.? — Sea- 

 coast; common. (Eu.) 



15. SPEBGULA, L. Spurrey. 



Stamens 5 or 10. Styles 5. The 5 valves of the pod opposite the sepals. 

 Embryo spirally annular. Leaves in whorls. Otherwise as in Spergularia. 

 (Name from spargo, to scatter, from the seeds.) 



1. S. arvensis, L. (Corn Spurrey.) Leaves numerous in the whorls, 

 linear-thread-shaped (l'-2' long); stipules minute; flowers white, in a stalked 

 panicled cyme ; seeds rough, with a narrow and sharp edge. ® — Grain-fields, 

 &c. (Adv. from Eu.) 



16. ANY CHI A, Michx. Forked Chickweed. 



Sepals 5, scarcely concave, indistinctly mucronate on the back, greenish. 

 Petals none. Stamens 2-3, rarely 5. Stigmas 2, sessile. Utricle 1-seeded, 

 larger than the calyx. Radicle turned downwards. — Small, many times forked 

 annuals, with small stipules and minute flowers in the forks. (Same derivation 

 as the next genus.) 



1. A. «scis«>t<i>Bma, Michx. Erect or spreading; leaves varying from 

 lanceolate to elliptical, somewhat petioled. Varies much ; in woods or rich 

 soil being very smooth, erect (6' -10' high) and capillary, with long joints, the 

 leaves broader and thinner (5"- 10" long), and the flowers more stalked (A. 

 capillacea, Nutt., & Qucria Canadensis, L.) : in sterile or parched soil it is some- 

 what pubescent, low and spreading, short-jointed, narrower-leaved, and the flow- 

 ers nearly sessile and more clustered (A. dichotoma, DC). — Common through- 

 out. June -Aug. 



17. PARONYCHIA, Toum. Wiiitlow-wort. 



Sepals 5, linear or oblong concave, awned at the apex. Petals bristle-form, 

 or minute teeth, or none. Stamens 5. Style 2-cleft at the apex. Utricle 1- 

 secded, enclosed in the calyx. Radicle ascending. — Tufted herbs, with dry and 

 silvery stipules, and clustered flowers. (A Greek name for a whitlow, and for a 

 plant thought to cure it.) 



1. P. argyrocoma, Nutt. (Silver Chickweed.) Densely matted, 

 much branched, spreading ; leaves linear ; flowers capitate, clustered, surrounded 



