80 CARYOPHYLLACE^E. AGROSTEMMA. 



CERAST1UM. 



Washington to California. 



4 AGROSTEMMA L. Gen. n. 379. : 



Erect annuals or biennials with linear leaves and showy, usu- 

 ally red, flowers. Calyx ovoid ; with 10 strong ribs, its lobes con- 

 spicuously prolonged into foliaceous appendages. Petals 5, 

 unappendaged. Stamens 10. Styles 5, opposite the petals. 

 Capsule 1-celled. Seeds laterally attached : embryo curved. 



A. GITHAGO L. Sp. 435. Lychnis Githago Scop. Hirsute annual : stems 

 1-6 feet high, dichotomously branched : leaves linear : flowers on long ped- 

 uncles: calyx cylindrical campanulate, with very long teeth, coriaceous : 

 petals large, purple, the blade obcordate; scales none, capsule sessile. 

 Cultivated fields. 



Tribe II. Alsinex DC. Sepils free or slightly united at the 

 very base. Petals more or less contracted at base, but not unguicu- 

 late, unappendaged, inserted on thz outside, of the hypogynous or 

 more or less perigynous disk. Flowers mostly small; styles distinct 

 to the base. Ovary sessile. 



* Stipules none: petals entire or -lobed. 

 5 CERASTIUM L. Gen. n. 585. 



Low herbs with white flowers in terminal bracteate dichoto- 

 mous cymes. Sepals 5, not carinate. Petals 5, emarginate o- 

 bifid. Stamens 10. Styles 5, rarely 3 or 4. Capsule cylindrir 

 or cylindric-conic, often incurved, l-celled> many-seeded, dehis- 

 cent by twice as many teeth as styles. Seeds subreniform-glo- 

 bose, usually granulate. 



* Viscid pubescent annuals. 



C. longipedunculatum Muhl. Cat. 46 C. nutans Raf. Prec. Dec. 36. 

 Erect, usually branching from the base, 4-10 inches high : leaves narrowly 

 oblong or linear-lanceolate, acute, clasping %-l% inches long: cymes 

 often many-flowered ; pedicels often nodding or deflexed in fruit ; calyx 

 1^-2 lines long, the petals slightly longer: capsule 4-6 lines long curved. 

 Sandy river bottoms, eastern Oregon to the Atlantic . 



C. VISCOSUM L. Sp. 437. Suberect, 3-12 inches high, dichotomously 

 branched above, leaves ovate or obovate or oblong-ovate 6-12 lines long : 

 flowers in close clusters on very short pedicels : sepals 4, lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate, with narrow scarious margins 13^-2 lines long: petals notched with 

 rounded lobes, about equalling the sepals : capsule narrow, at length much 

 exserted. Throughout temperate North America in cultivated fields, etc. 



* * Perennials. 



C. VULGATUM L. Sp. ed. 2, 627. Prostrate and rooting at the nodes or sub- 

 erect, 4-12 inches high ; pubescent with spreading hairs : leaves spatulate or 

 oblanceolate to broadly lanceolate, 6-15 lines long : flowers in clusters at 

 the ends of the branches, on slender pedicels 1-2 lines long: sepals lanceo- 

 late acute with scarious tips, 2-8 lines long : petals oblong 2-toothed, about 

 equalling the sepals. Common everywhere, introduced from Europe. 



C. pilosum Ledeb. Mem. Acad. Petr. v, 539. (?). Erect, rather stout, 

 more or less densely pilose, glandular-pubescent above, leaves oblong-lan- 

 ceolate 6-12 lines long, 1-6 lines broad, acute, almost sheathing at base : 

 flowers large, few: calyx 3-4 lines long, the petals half longer: capsule 6- 

 10 lines long, the slender teeth at length circinate. Alaska and Sit\eria : tc? 



