482 CARYOPHYLLACEAE 



as the calyx, the slightly curved apex contracted; seeds numerous, minutely 

 muriculate. 



Common in fields and by roadsides. Mar.-Apr. Naturalized from Europe. 



Refs. CERASTIUM VISCOSUM L. Sp. PI. 437 (1753), type European; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. 

 Cal. 166 (1901). 



2. C. vulgatum L. Biennial or perennial; stems erect or ascending, 9 to 

 13 inches high; herbage hairy-pubescent throughout and somewhat viscid; 

 lower leaves spatulate-oblong, upper oblong, 5 to 10 lines long ; flowers loosely 

 cymose, the pedicels as long as or at length exceeding the calyx ; bracts scarious- 

 margined; sepals 2 to 2y 2 lines long, about as long as the 2-cleft petals; capsule 

 curved upward, 2 to 3 times as long as the calyx. 



Sparingly naturalized from Europe. 



Locs. Plumas Co. (ace. Wats. Bot. Cal. 2: 434); Eureka, Tracy 2569 in 1907; Berkeley, 

 in lawns; Los Angeles, in lawns (Davidson, PI. L. A. 4). 



Refs. CERASTIUM VULGATUM L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 627 (1762), type European. C. triviale Link, 

 Enum. Hort. Ber. 1: 433 (1821). 



3. C. arvense L. FIELD CHICKWEED. Stems from running rootstocks, sev- 

 eral from a decumbent very leafy and often matted base, nearly naked above, 



5 to 9 inches high ; herbage pubescent and often glandular, the pedicels and 

 calyx glandular-pubescent; leaves linear, acute, the upper 1 to l 1 /^ inches 

 long, the lowermost often but half as long; cyme contracted, bearing 1 to 6 

 flowers; sepals l 1 /^ to 2y 2 lines long, scarious-margined ; petals usually twice 

 as long as the calyx, obcordate, deeply notched; capsule scarcely exceeding 

 the calyx, pendulous on the curved end of the pedicel. 



Sierra Nevada and in the Coast Kanges as far south as San Francisco. 

 North America, Europe. 



Locs. Coast Ranges: Mission Hills, San Francisco, Chesnut ; Sausalito, Chesnut <$ Drew; 

 Cazadero, Davy 1664; Ft. Bragg, Margaret Armstrong; Hupa, Mary H. Manning. Sierra 

 Nevada: Vernal Fall, Yosemite, Jepson 3138. 



Var. maximum Holl. & Britt. Stout, tall, 1 to 2 feet high ; leaves elongated : 

 cyme ample, spreading, 10 to 18-flowered ; capsule equaling to nearly twice th 

 length of the calyx. Marin Co. north to Humboldt Co. 



Locs. Hupa, Chandler 1384; Eureka, Tracy 2515; Eel River, Humboldt Co., Bolander 6520; 

 Harris, Humboldt Co., Jepson 1883 ; Noyo, Bolander 4723. 



Refs. CERASTIUM ARVENSE L. Sp. PI. 438 (1753), type European. Var. MAXIMUM Holl. 



6 Britt. Bull. Torr. Club, 14: 47 (1887), type spms. from northern California coast (Noyo, 

 San Francisco, etc.). C. maximum Heller, Muhl. 1: 50 (1904). 



C. ALPINUM L. var. FISCHERIANUM T. & G. Fl. 1: 188 (1838). C. fischerianum Ser. ; 

 Prod. 1: 419 (1824), type loc. Kamchatka. Leaves rather thick, elliptic- or oval-lanceolate; 

 approaches C. arvense var. maximum very closely. Humboldt Co. (ace. Gray, Syn. Fl. I 1 : 231). 



2. STELLARIA L. CHICKWEED. 

 Low slender mostly glabrous herbs, loving moist ground or shaded habitat. 

 Flowers white, small, axillary and solitary, or terminal and cymose. Sepals 

 5, acute or acuminate. Petals 5, parted almost to the base into narrow seg- 

 ments. Stamens 3 to 10. Styles 3 or 4. Capsule ovoid or oblong, relatively 

 shorter than in Cerastium, dehiscent to below the middle into as many or 

 twice as many valves as there are styles. Species about 100, all lands. (Latin 

 stella, a star, the flowers star-shaped.) 



A. Annual; lower leaves ovate, petioled. 



Bracts foliaceous; stems procumbent, weak 1. S. media. 



Bracts scarious ; stems filiform, erect 2. S. nit ens. 



B. Perennial; leaves ovate, lanceolate, or linear, all sessile or nearly so. 

 Petals deeply 2-parted; herbage not glandular. 

 Bracts small and scarious. 



Petals minute or none; flowers in umbels 3. S. umbellata. 



