X40 XVII. cARYOPHYLLACEiE (olivek). [SUene, 



herb of ^-1 ft., giving off from' the wiry, diffuse or prostrate stem ascend- 

 ing, simple, 1-flowered or slightly divided, pubescent branches. Lower leaves 

 CEespitose, linear-spathulate, pointed, hispid-puberulous, ciliate below ; upper 

 pairs similar or much reduced, scarcely } in. long. Flowers solitary or the 

 stem loosely forked, bearing 2 or 3. Calyx clavate, about ^ in. long, glan- 

 dular-pilose, with dark nervures ; teeth triangular, rather obtuse. Petals 

 exserted ; claw equalling the calyx ; limb elongate-cuneate, 2-fid, with linear 

 obtuse lobes; appendix nearly obsolete. Carpophore shorter than the 

 capsule. 



Nile Iiand. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 



3. UEBELINIA, Hochst. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI i. 148. 



Calyx campanulate, lO-nerved, 5-fid. Petals 5, shorter than the calyx, 

 entire or nearly so, without a transverse scale. Stamens 5. Styles very 

 short, 5. Capsule obovoid, dehiscing by 5 valves. — A more or less setulose- 

 scabrid dichotomous herb. Leaves plane. Flowers in the forks. 



A monotypic genus, peculiar to this Flora. . 



1. U". abyssinica, Hochst. in Flora, 1841, 664. Decumbent or as- 

 cending, 2-3 in. to 1 foot or more in height, repeatedly forked ; the branches 

 setulose-hispid, at least in lines. Leaves obovate-oblong, obtuse, mucronate, 

 narrowed to the base, setulose-ciliate. Pedicels |~1 in. or much shorter in 

 the smaller specimens, at length often deflexed. Calyx setulose. — U. s^pathu- 

 lafolia, Hochst. in PI. Schimp. Abyss. 



Nile Iiand. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 



4. CERASTIUM, Linn. 4 Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 148. 



Sepals free, 5 or 4. Petals as many, notched or 2-fid, exunguiculate, 

 sometimes minute. Stamens 10 or fewer. Styles usually 5 (4 or 3), oppo- 

 site to the sepals. Capsule tubular to ovoid-oblong, opening at the apex in 

 twice as many teeth as styles, usually exceeding the calyx. — Herbs often 

 hairy, with plane, rarely subulate leaves, and forking, dense or lax, terminal 

 cymes of white flowers. 



A considerable genus of temperate, alpine, and arctic regions, including one or two species 

 which are almost ubiquitous. 

 Hairy or pubescent. Capsule cyhndrical, at length much exceeding 



calyx 1. C. vulgaUim, 



Leaves thinly scabrid-hairy, very acute. Capsule oblong-ovoid, 



sHghtly exceedmg calyx 2. C africanum. 



1. C. vulgatum, Lhm. ; DC. Frod. i. 415. A glandular-pilose or softly 

 hirsute, diffuse or ascending annual. Leaves oval or varying from subovate to 

 oblong-lanceolate, sessile or narrowed into a rather broad petiole. Flowers on 

 pedicels about equalling the calyx, from the upper forks, spreading or at length 

 reflexed, crowded into a rather dense leafy cyme or in a loose dichotomous 

 panicle. Sepals with a membranous margin. Petals shorter than or but 



