DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 55 



CARYOPHYLLA'CE^B. PINK FAMILY 



Herbs with regular flowers, sepals as many as the petals 

 (generally 5, the latter sometimes wanting), stamens as 

 many or twice as many, ovary 1-celied with central placenta, 

 styles 2-5. 



I. SILE'NE, Pink 



Sepals united into a 5-toothed calyx. Petals with both blade 

 'and claw, together with the 10 stamens, attached to the stipe 

 of the ovary. Styles 3. Capsule dehiscent from the top by 

 6 teeth. Leaves opposite, without stipules. Flowers gener- 

 ally showy. 



a. S. Gallica L. Stems generally several. Leaves hairy, spat- 

 ulate. Flowers small, on short pedicels in one-sided racemes. Petals 

 pale rose-color, not much longer than the sepals. This is a common 

 introduced weed. 



b. S. Calif or'nica Durand. Low, glandular herbs, with lax, leafy 

 stems, generally branching above. Flowers few, nearly an inch in 

 diameter, on short pedicels, the lowest of which are deflexed in fruit. 

 Petals 5, bright scarlet, the blades cut into 2 divisions, which are gener- 

 ally toothed. Widely distributed in shady places where the ground 

 does not become very dry. 



c. S. lacinia'ta Cav. Stems ascending, 1-2 ft. high. Leaves 

 narrow, 2-3 in. long. Flowers few on the long branches. Blades 

 of the petals J^-clefl into linear lobes, scarlet, smaller than the preced- 

 ing. Pedicels not deflexed in fruit. This is common in southern 

 California. 



d. S. verecun'da Watson. Stems several from the rootstocks, 

 branching, leafy, glandular-viscid, especially on the upper part. 

 Leaves lanceolate, spatulate or linear. Flowers 1-3 at the ends of 

 short branchlets. Petals with blades shorter than the claws, rose-color ; 

 blades 2-cleft and with the appendages in the throat oblong, entire or 

 toothed. This is common in San Francisco near the cemeteries. It 

 is widely distributed in California. 



H. CERAS'TIUM, Mouse-ear Chickweed 



Sepals separate. Petals 5, white, notched. Stamens 10. 

 Stigmas 5. Capsule dehiscent from the top by 10 teeth. 



