_ CERASTIUM. CARYOPHYLLACE. 81 
ALSINE. 
California. : 
C. arvense L. Sp. 438. More or less pubescent with reflexed hairs: ces- 
itose : stems erect, rather slender, 3-16 inches high: leaves linear or linear- 
anceolate 6-18 lines long, acute, clasping, those of the stem distant: 
bracts small: cyme few-flowered, usually narrow: pedicels half to an inch 
or more long: calyx 2-3 lines long, lanceolate, ; 
Var. angustifolium Fenzl in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i, 413 (?) Stems pubes- 
cent, hoary or glandular: leaves elongated, linear or narrowly linear-lan- 
ceolate, attenuate at base; those of the stem approximate: lobes of the pet- 
als oblong-ovate. Oregon. 
C. alpinum L. Sp. 4388. Densely silky-hirsute: stems weak, decum- 
bent and matted: leaves elliptic-ovate, 4-6 lines long: flowers few, on more 
or less elongated pedicels; petals bifid, twice the length of the rather ob- 
tuse scarious-margined and hairy sepals: capsule nearly twice as long as 
the calyx. Wyoming to Alaska, perhaps in Idaho. 
6 ALSINE L. (not Wahl. Fl. Lap. 127.) 
Low spreading herbs, usually preferring shaded or moist 
places, with mostly 4-angled stems, flat, rarely acerose; leaves 
and small white flowers in cymes or solitary. Sepals 5, rarely 4, 
somewhat united at base. Petals as many, rarely wanting, al- 
ways more or less deeply 2-cleft, often divided almost to the 
base, thus appearing as 10, often perigynous. Stamens 10, or by 
abortion 3-8, styles 3, sometimes 2,4 or 5, opposite to as many 
sepals. Capsule globose to oblong, 1-celled, dehiscent to below 
the middle with twice as many membranous valves as styles. 
Seeds numerous, reniform-globose or laterally compressed. 
§ 1 Myosoron Monch Method. 225, (as genus). Styles 5, al- 
ternate with the sepals. Leaves ovate, acute. 
A. aquatica. Stellaria aquatica Scop. Perennial: stems strongly an- 
gled and somewhat pubescent: leaves large ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 
acute, the upper sessile, cordate; the lower petiolate: pedicels glandt lar- 
viscid deflexed in fruit: petals 144-2 times as long asthe campanulate 
glandular-pubescent calyx: styles 5, alternate with the sepals: seeds nu- 
merous dark-colored tuberculately roughened. At Nanaimo, Brit. Colum- 
bia, perhaps Washington ; introduced from Europe. 
§ 2 Kusreriarra Fenzl. Styles 3 or 4. 
_ * Petals deeply 2-parted, sometimes minute or wanting: segments 
narrow. 
+ Lower leaves contracted to slender petioles. 
A. media L. Sp. i. 272. Stellaria media Cyr. Char. Comm. 36. Gla- 
brous or nearly so: stems weak and spreading, rooting at the lower joints, 
marked by a pubescent line: leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, 3-9 lines long 
on hairy petioles or the uppermost sessile: pedicels slender, 4-6 lines long, 
defiexed in fruit: bracts foliaceous: petals oblong, deeply divided, shorter 
than the pubescent sepals: stamens 3-10: capsule oblong-ovate 2-3 lines 
long, equalling or exceeding the calyx. A common weed in shady places 
and cultivated grounds. Said to be introduced from Europe. 
A. nitens Greene Bot. Bay. Reg. 33. Stellaria nitens Nutt. T. & G. Fl. 7. 
185. Smooth and shining, often hairy at base: stems slender,3-8 inches 
high erect or spreading, dichotomously branched with the flowers in the 
forks: leaves lanceolate,, 3-6 lines long, acute, the lower shortly petiolate: 
bracts small and scarious: pedicels not deflexed in fruit: petals narrow, 
