CHICK WEED TRIBE. 101 



plant 2 4 inches high, with rigid glaucous leaves, and 

 white flowers, which are large in proportion to the rest 

 of the plant ; the sepals are sharp pointed, with a white 

 membranous edge ; the petals expand only in the sun- 

 shine. Fl. May. Annual. 



8. HOLOSTEUM (Jagged Chickweed). 



1. H. umbellatum (Umbelliferous Jagged Chickweed). 

 A singular little plant, 4 5 inches high, with leafy 

 stems which are smooth below, and hairy and viscid 

 between the joints above. The flowers grow in terminal 

 umbels about 5 together, and are bent back after 

 flowering ; petals white, with a reddish tinge. Very 

 rare, on old walls at Norwich and elsewhere. Fl. April. 

 Annual. 



9. STELLARIA (Stitchworf). 



1. S. media (Chickweed). Leaves egg-shaped, with a 

 short point ; stems with a hairy line alternating from 

 side to side \ petals deeply 2-cleft, not longer than the 

 sepals ; stamens 5 10. Roadsides, waste places, and 

 as a weed in gardens ; abundant. Leaves succulent ; 

 flowers small, white. Well distinguished by a hairy 

 line which runs up one side of the stem and when it 

 reaches a pair of leaves is continued on the opposite 

 side. Fl. all the year round. Annual. 



2. S. Holostea (Greater Stitchwort, Satin-flower, or 

 Adder's meat). Stem nearly erect, angular, rough- 

 edged ; leaves very narrow, tapering to a long point, 

 minutely fringed ; petals deeply 2-cleft, twice as long as 

 the sepals. Among the most ornamental of our early 

 summer flowers, scarcely less conspicuous with its delicate 

 green leaves than its snow-white petals. The stems do 

 not die down to the ground in the winter, as is the case 

 with most other herbaceous perennials ; but though dead 

 to all appearance, they send out delicate green tufts very 

 early in the year, so that the flowering stems, especially 



