PINKS 353 



XIV. CARYOPHYLLACE.E. PINK FAMILY. 



Herbs, with opposite, mostly narrow, entire leaves without conspic- 

 uous veins: flowers 4-5-merous, sometimes apetalous, with stamens 

 twice or less the number of sepals or petals, and 2-5 styles which 

 may be wholly separate or partially united: pod usually a 1-loculed 

 capsule commonly inclosed in the calyx, mostly splitting from the 

 top, the seeds usually attached to a central column. Genera between 

 30 and 40, species about 1,000. Representative plants are pink, car- 

 nation, bouncing Bet, catchfly, chickweed, corn-cockle, lychnis, spurry. 



A. Flowers polypetalous, with sepals united into a tube. 



B. Bracts at the base of the calyx 1. Dianthus 



BB. No bracts at base of calyx. 



c. Styles 2 2. Saponaria 



cc. Styles 4-5 3. Lychnis 



ccc. Styles 3 . .4. Silene 



AA. Flowers often apetalous, the sepals nearly or quite distinct. 



B. Styles 3 or 4 5. SteUaria 



BB. Styles 5 6. Cerastium 



1. DlANTHUS. PINK. 



Showy-flowered small herbs, with striate, many-furrowed 

 calyx and sepal -like bracts at its base: petals with slender 

 claws or bases, the limb usually toothed or fringed: styles 2. 



a. Flowers single on ends of branches. 



D. chinensis, Linn. China or florists' pink. Leaves 

 short-lanceolate, not grass-like: calyx-bracts linear-acute and 

 as long as the calyx: petals in white and shades of red, very 

 showy. China. Perennial, but grown as an annual (mostly 

 under the florists' name D. Heddewigi). 



D. plumarius, Linn. Grass or Scotch pink. Common pink 

 of old gardens, from Europe. Low, growing in mats, glau- 

 cous-blue: leaves grass-like: flowers very fragrant, deep-fringed, white or 

 pink. Perennial. 



D. Caryophyllus, Linn. Carnation. Two ft. or more, with wiry stems, 

 glaucous-blue: leaves grass-like: calyx-bracts short and broad: petals more 

 or less toothed but not fringed: flowers fragrant. Europe. 



aa. Flowers in compact clusters. 



D. barbatus, Linn. Sweet William. Fig. 515. One ft. or more, erect, 

 green: flowers small, in dense clusters in red and white. Old World; common 

 in old gardens. 



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