CARYOPHYLLACEAE. 95 



Family 36. CARYOPHYLLACEAE. Pink Family. 



Annual or perennial herbs; stems often swollen at the nodes; 



leaves opposite, entire, with or without stipules; flowers regular 



and perfect; sepals 4-5, separate or united into a calyx-tube; 



petals equal in number to the sepals or none; stamens not more 



than twice as many as the sepals, hypogynous or perigynous; 



styles 2-5; ovary 1-celled, rarely 3-5-celled; ovules several or 



many, basal or attached to a central column; fruit a capsule, 



akene or utricle; endosperm mealy. 



Sepals united; petals long-clawed. 



Styles always 5; capsule with 5 or 10 teeth. 128. Agrostemma, 95. 



Styles 2 or 3. 



Capsule 4-toothed; styles always 2. 129. Vaccaria, 95. 



Capsule 3- or 6- toothed; styles 3 (rarely 2, 4, or 



5). 130. Silene, 96. 



Sepals free to the base or nearly so. 

 Stipules present, scarious. 



Styles and capsule-valves 5. 131. Spergula, 97. 



Styles and capsule-valves 3. 132. Tissa, 97. 



Stipules wanting. 

 Petals none. 



Plant minute, 2-5 cm. high, purplish. 135. Arenaria, 100. 



Plant larger. 134. Alsine, 98. 



Petals present. 



Petals 2-cleft or parted. 



Capsule cylindric, usually curved. 133. Cerastium, 98. 



Capsule ovate or oblong, not curved. 134. Alsine, 98. 

 Petals entire or notched. 



Seeds without a strophiole. 135. Arenaria, 100. 



Seeds each with a strophiole. 136. Moehringia, 101. 



128. AGROSTEMMA. 



Annual or biennial pubescent herbs; leaves linear or linear- 

 lanceolate, acute or acuminate, sessile; flowers solitary at the 

 ends of long axillary peduncles, large, erect, red; calyx oblong, 

 not inflated, narrowed at the throat, 5-lobed, 10-nerved; petals 5, 

 shorter than the calyx-lobes, not appendaged; stamens 10; 

 styles 5, alternate with the calyx-lobes; capsule 1-celled; seeds 

 numerous, black. 



Agrostemma githago L. Corn Cockle. Annual or biennial, erect, branched 

 above, 30-90 cm. tall, the whole plant more or less pubescent with silky 

 somewhat appressed hairs; leaves linear, acute, 5-10 cm. long; flowers few on 

 long peduncles; calyx-teeth unequal, 2-3 cm. long, about equalling the tube; 

 petals ovate, dull red, minutely black-spotted. Sparingly introduced in 

 grain fields. 



129. VACCARIA. 



Annual or perennial herbs; leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 

 sessile or petioled ; flowers in corymbs or cymes ; calyx 5 -toothed, 



