644 STELLARIA. [CLASS X. ORDER III. 



glaucous, sessile ; panicle of few flowers, forked, or axillary ; bractea 

 membranous ; petals deeply bifid, much longer than the three ribbed 

 lanceolate acuminate segments of the calyx. 



a . Flowers solitary. 



English Botany, t. 825. English Flora, vol. ii. p, 303. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 207. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 52. 



0. paniculata. Flowers in forked panicles ; bracteas membranous. 



Root small, fibrous, the whole plant quite smooth, and of a pale 

 glaucous hue. Stem square, procumbent at the base, becoming erect, 

 simple, or branched. Leaves sessile, opposite, linear, lanceolate, with 

 an acute point, from one to two inches long or longer, the keel pro- 

 minent, stout, acute. Flowers large, pure white, few in a terminal 

 forked panicle, or solitary from the leaves, on long slender peduncles, 

 erect, bracteas in the paniculated variety, lanceolate, membranous, 

 pale, with a green acute keel. Calyx of five lanceolate acuminate 

 three ribbed segments, with pale membranous margins. Petals nearly 

 as long again as the calyx, pure white, deeply bifid. Stamens with 

 linear filaments, and ovate yellow or reddish anthers. Styles with 

 linear downy stigmas, spreading. Capsule oblong, ovate, as long as 

 the calyx. 



Habitat. Wet marshy places, on the margin of lakes, bogs, rivers, 

 &c., especially in a sandy or gravelly soil ; not very common. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



This species is readily distinguished from all the others, by its per- 

 fectly smooth glaucous hue, the form of the calyx segments, and their 

 relative size to the petals. It varies considerably in luxuriance, the 

 length of the stem, and the number of its flowers, which are either 

 paniculated or solitary from the axis of the upper leaves. The stem 

 is either simple and erect, or branched and spreading ; it mostly grows 

 in dense patches, and when in full bloom has a remarkable pretty 

 appearance, its pure white flowers and glaucous herbage rendering it a 

 very conspicuous plant on the margin of rivers, ditches, or wet meadows 



6. S. gramin'ea, Linn. (Fig. 734.) Lesser Stitchwort. Stem smooth, 

 spreading, square ; leaves sessile, lanceolate, acuminate, ciliated at the 

 base ; panicle terminal, much branched and spreading ; bractea mem- 

 branous, ciliated ; calyx segments three ribbed, ciliated, scarcely as 

 long as the deeply bifid petals. 



English Botany, t. 803. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 302. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 207. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 52. 



acuminate. Leaves tapering from the base, the margins more or 

 less finely ciliated, a deep dull green. 



y. undulata. Leaves lanceolate, acuminate, the margins more or 

 less waved and crisped, somewhat ciliated, a pale green. 



Hoot small, fibrous. Stem square smooth, simple or branched, more 

 or less procumbent at the base, becoming erect, weak and slender, 

 spreading, or stouter and erect. Leaves opposite, sessile, lanceolate, 



