CERASTIUM AkVF.XSE. 1 IF.I.D MorSF.-KAR CHICKWIKr) 



191 



evenino-s it makes a nice green, moss-like growth, which it retains 

 all through the winter, ready for the early bloom of spring. It 

 makes an excellent basket or vase plant for cool and shady situa- 

 tions, or for cool rooms or greenhouses during the winter season. 

 The generic botanical name Ccraslium is a very old one, and 

 is derived from the Greek kcras (Latin cormi\7i horn, in allusion 

 to the seed-vessels, which assume a shaj^e somewhat resembling 

 a horn as they approach maturity. The specific name, arvcnse, 

 from arvum, a field, was probably chosen by Linnaujs because 

 he found the plant growing in fields. In our country, however, 

 it is not often found in such locations ; and, indeed, with the 

 exception of sandy fields in New Jersey, the writer has never 

 seen it elsewhere than on barren rocks and in waste places 

 among scattered trees and bushes generally. 



The common name of Cemstium ai"ucnsc\ or l-icld Mouse- 

 Ear Chickweed, is apt to mislead, especially as it is often abbre- 

 viated to Field Chickweed; for our species, as we have just 

 seen, can hardly claim any special connection with the fields, 

 while the common Garden Chickweed, so well known as the 

 food of canary birds, is frequently found there. The true 

 Chickweeds, indeed, are not considered Ccrastiunis at all by 

 modern botanists, but are classed as Slcllaria ; and our ])resent 

 genus Ccrastiuni ought not, therefore, to be called Chickweed. 

 But as in olden times these two classes of plants used to be 

 looked upon as belonging to the same genus, the j^opular name 

 has clung to both, in spite of the efforts of botanists to separate 

 them. The appellation Mouse-Ear is derived from the gen- 

 eral resemblance of our plant to some species of Myosotis, or 

 Forget-me-not, which used to be called by that name from some 

 fancied resemblance in the leaves of several of the smaller 

 species to the ear of a mouse. This resemblance is, however, 

 totally wanting in most of the Mouse-Ear Chickweeds, and the 

 explanation here given only tends to show how widelv names 

 may be estranged from their early associations in the course of 

 time. 



