184 CARYOPHYLLACEAE (PINK FAMILY) 



6. CERASTIUM L. CHICKWEED 



Mostly low pubescent or hirsute herbs with white flowers in terminal leafy 

 or scariotisly bracted dichotomous cymes. Sepals distinct. Petals emar- 

 ginate or bifid. Stamens 10. Styles 5. Capsule often incurved, twice or 

 thrice the length of the sepals, opening by about 10 apical teeth. Seeds 

 rough. 



Annuals. 



Leaves less than 20 mm. long; pedicels not longer than the 



capsule. 



Rays and pedicels strongly swollen at base . . . 1. C. Buffumae. 

 Rays and pedicels same diameter as the node . . . 2. C. brachypodium. 

 Leaves more than 20 mm. long; pedicels much longer than . 



the capsule. 

 Capsule long-exserted . . . . . . . 3. C. longipedunculatum. 



Capsule nearly ' wholly included . . . . . 4. C. elongatum. 



Perennials. 



Petals scarcely longer than the sepals. 



Leaves sparse . . . . . . . . . 5. C. beeringianum. 



Leaves imbricated below 6. C. fuegianum. 



Petals about twice as long as the sepals. 



Mature capsule scarcely surpassing the sepals . . . 7. C. arvense. 

 Mature capsule about twice as long as the sepals . . 8. C. oreophilum. 



1. Cerastium Buffumae A. Nels. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 26: 239.' 1899. An- 

 nual, yellowish-green, glandular-pubescent, and very leafy: stems crowded 

 upon the slender root and freely branched, becoming matted: leaves narrowly 

 oblong to elliptic, 5-12 mm. long: the few-flowered cymes very numerous; 

 the peduncles and pedicels dilated or swollen at the base into an elliptic- 

 oblong foot: petals one half longer than the oblong obtusish sepals: capsule 

 about twice as long as the sepals. Type locality only, Big Horn Mountains, 

 Wyoming. 



2. Cerastium brachypodium (Engelm.) Robins, in Brit. Mem. Torr. Club 

 5: 150. 1894. Annual, pale green, viscid-pubescent: stems erect, simple or 

 sparingly branched, 1-2 dm. high: leaves oblong or spatulate, 1-2 cm. long: 

 cymes terminal, rather few-flowered; pedicels, even the lower ones, scarcely 

 exceeding the capsule, from nearly erect to widely spreading or decurved: 

 capsule usually slightly curved, 2-3-times as long as the calyx. Not infre- 

 quent in our range, and eastward and westward. 



3. Cerastium longipedunculatum Muhl. Cat. 46. 1813. Annual, bright 

 green, more or less viscid-pubescent: stems weak, branched, ascending or 

 almost prostrate: leaves oblong to spatulate below, lanceolate or narrower 

 upward, 2-5 cm. long: cyme several to many-flowered; the pedicels slender, 

 much longer than the mature capsule: petals twice as long as the nodding 

 capsule. C. nutans. Across the continent. 



4. Cerastium elongatum Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 321. 1814. Annual, glan- 

 dular-pubescent, 1-2 dm. high: stems many from the base, somewhat branched: 

 leaves linear-lanceolate, 15-30 mm. long, very numerous below: cyme usu- 

 ally trichotomous; the pedicels rather stout, variable in length, usually much 

 longer than the mature capsule: petals large, often more than twice as long 

 as the acute sepals: capsule short, sub globose and scarcely exserted. Northern 

 Wyoming, Montana, and westward. 



5. Cerastium beeringianum Cham. & Schlecht. Linnaea 1: 62. 1826. Per- 

 ennial, tomentulose and somewhat glandular- viscid above: stems usually sev- 

 eral from the slender branches of the caudex, low and spreading, ovate- 

 elliptic, oblong or lanceolate, 3-10 mm. long: flowers few, in a narrow cyme, 

 with short pedicels: petals and capsule but little longer than the sepals. In 

 the mountains; from New Mexico to Alaska. 



6. Cerastium fuegianum (Hook.) A. Nels. Perennial, with slender root- 

 stock; the slender strict stem only 5-10 cm. high: leaves short, thickish and 

 imbricated on the lower part of the stem: flowers solitary or few: petals and 

 capsule but slightly longer than the calyx. (C. arvense fuegianum Hook. Bot. 

 U. S. Expl. Exp. 1: 129; Hoi. & Brit. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 14: 50.) In 

 Yellowstone Park, also in Fuegia, 



