98 CARYOPHYLLACEAE. 



bracts; petals pink, hardly longer than the sepals. Roadsides, becoming 

 common. 



Tissa diandra bracteata (Robinson) Piper. Much like T. rubra but more 

 glandular; leaves, excepting the reduced upper ones, not cuspidate; stipules 

 small, short, triangular; petals pinkish, shorter than the sepals. Banks of 

 Snake River at Almota, rare. 



133. CERASTIUM. MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED. 



Annual or perennial, generally pubescent or hirsute herbs; 

 leaves flat, rarely subulate; stipules none; flowers in terminal 

 bracted dichotomous cymes; sepals 5; petals 5, retuse or bifid, 

 very rarely subentire, white; stamens 10, sometimes fewer; 

 styles 5, sometimes 4 or 3, opposite the sepals; capsule cylindric, 

 1-celled, often curved, dehiscent by 10, rarely 8, apical teeth. 



Petals not longer than the sepals. 



Pedicels longer than the calyx. C. vulgatum. 



Pedicels not longer than the calyx. C. wscosum. 

 Petals decidedly longer than the sepals. 



Annual, viscid-pubescent; pods nodding. C. nutans. 



Perennial, pubescent; pods erect. C. arvense. 



Cerastium vulgatum L. Perennial, viscid-pubescent throughout, tufted, 

 10-30 cm. high; leaves oblong, obtuse, or the upper ones acucish, 10-25 mm. 

 long; inflorescence loose, the pedicels longer than the calyx; sepals obtuse, 

 4-5 mm. long, as long as the 2-cleft petals; capsule somewhat curved, longer 

 than the calyx. A weed in lawns and pastures; introduced from Europe. 



Cerastium viscosum L. Annual, viscid-pubescent, erect or nearly so, 

 10-20 cm. high; leaves oval to ovate or obovate, very obtuse, the lowest 

 narrowed into short-margined petioles; inflorescence rather close in flower, 

 looser in fruit; sepals acute, 3-4 mm. long; petals shorter than the sepals. 

 A weed introduced from Europe. 



Cerastium nutans Raf. Stems erect, 15-40 cm. high, usually branched at 

 the base; leaves oblong-lanceolate, or the lowest spatulate, acute, 1-3 cm. 

 long; cyme open, rather many-flowered; pedicels elongated, nodding, especially 

 in fruit; calyx 3-4 mm. long, exceeded by the petals; pods curved, three times 

 as long as the calyx. Near Lewiston, Idaho, and about Lake Coeur d'Alene. 



Cerastium arvense L. Perennial, tufted, pubescent throughout or some- 

 times nearly glabrous; stems weak, erect, 1540 cm. tall, nearly naked above; 

 leaves linear or lanceolate, 2-3 cm. long; flowers cymose, on slender pedicels; 

 sepals oblong, acute, 5-6 mm. long; petals deeply notched, twice as long as the 

 sepals. In low places, infrequent. 



134. ALSINE. CHICKWEED. 



Annual tufted generally diffuse herbs; leaves flat, rarely subu- 

 late; stipules none; flowers solitary or cymose, terminal or 

 becoming lateral; sepals 5 or 4; petals 5 or 4, rarely none, always 

 more or less deeply bifid, often divided almost to the base, white; 

 stamens 3-10; styles 3 or 4, rarely 5; capsules globose, ovoid or 

 oblong, dehiscing by as many valves as there are styles. 



