XVI. CARYOPlIYLLEyE. 21 



celled ; styles 2-5, spreading, or more or less eombiued, 

 stigmatose on the upper surface ; ovules 2 or many, on cords 

 rising from the bottom of the ovarian cavity, free or united in 

 a central column. Capsules membranous or crustaceous, 

 opening by apical teeth or splitting into valves, rarely sub- 

 indehiscent or opening transversely. Seeds reniform, subcoin- 

 pressed ; embryo curved round the albumen or excentric. — 

 Herbs or half-shrubby plants ; branches mostly swollen at the 

 nodes. Leaves opposite, quite entire, exstipulate or with mem- 

 branous stipules. Flowers in cymes panicles or clusters. 



Tribe 1. Silene^e. Calyx tubular, 4r-5-toothed. Petals and stamens 

 hypogjnous, borne, with the ovary, on a stipe-like " gynophore," rarely 

 sessile. Petals clawed. Styles separate to the base. Stipules 0. (Gen. 

 1-3.) 



Styles 2. Calyx bracteate at base 1. Dianthus. 



Styles 3. Calyx nude at base, 5-toothed 2. Silene. 



Styles 5. Calyx nude at base, with leafy lobes ... 3. Agrostemma. 



Tribe 2. Alsine^e. Sepals 4-5, separate to the base, or nearly so. 



Petals and stamens hypogynous. Petals not clawed. Styles separate to 

 the base. Stipules or membranous. (Gen. 4-7.) 

 Stipules none ; petals 2-fid. 



Styles 3 4. Stellaeia. 



Styles 4-5 5. Ceeastittm. 



Stipules membranous ; petals entire. 



Styles 5. (Petals white.) 6. Speeoula. 



Styles 3. (Petals pink or purple.) 7. Spergulaeia. 



Tribe 3. PoLTCAEPEiE. Calyx as in Ahineee ; also the petals, but com- 

 monly much smaller or obsolete. Style simple at base, 3-fid or rarely 2-fid 

 above. Stamens 5 or fewer. Stipules membranous. (Gen. 8-10.) 



Petals deeply 2-fid or 4-fid 8. Detmaeia. 



Petals entire. 



Sepals membranous, not keeled 9. Polycaep^a. 



Sepals membranous-edged, sharply keeled . . . .10. Poltcaepon. 



Teibe 1. Silene^. (Gen. 1-3.) 



1. DIANTHUS, Linn. 



- Calyx tubular, 5-toothed, with 2 or more close-lying bracts 

 at base. Petals 5, with long claws,, often toothed or lacerate. 

 Stamens 10. Styles 2, filiform. Capsules cylindrical or ob- 

 long, opening by 4 teeth. — Fl. Cap. i. p. 122. 



Herbs or small half-shrubs. Leaves generally grass-like. Plowers ter- 

 minal, solitary or in cymes or panicles. — The garden Pink and Carnation 

 belong to this genus. 9 reputed South African species, several of them 

 depending on very slight characters, are dispersed through the colony. 



2. SILENE, Linn. 

 Calyx tubular, 5-toothed, ebracteate at base. Petals 5, on 



