68 CARYOPHYLLACE^E. Stellaria. 



% 



flowers in a simple or compound open umbel-like few-rayed cyme ; pedicels elon- 

 gated : sepals ovate-lanceolate, 1-nerved, 1 to H lines long : petals none : capsule 

 at first ovate, at length nearly twice longer than the calyx. Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 

 394 ; Watson, Bot. King Exp. 38. 



Rocky Mountains of Colorado ; in the Wahsatch ( Watson) ; at Peregoy's above the Yosemite, 

 Gray. Identical with the Asiatic form. 



4. S. longipes, Goldie. Smooth and shining or glaucous, erect or ascending, 



2 to 18 inches high: leaves, linear or linear-lanceolate, \ to 1| inches long, 1 to 1 

 lines wide, acute, rather rigid and usually ascending*: flowers few, on long slender 

 erect pedicels, the scarious bracts often wanting in the less developed specimens : 

 sepals scarcely nerved, 1 J to 2 lines long : petals about equalling or exceeding the 

 calyx : capsule ovate-oblong, at length exserted, usually dark-colored at maturity : 

 seed smooth. Torrey, Bot. Wilkes Exp. 245. 



In the Sierra Nevada from the Yosemite northward, ranging to the Arctic Sea and eastward to 

 Maine and Labrador : also Asiatic. 



5. KINGII, Watson, Bot. King Exp. 39, t. 6, of the mountains of Nevada, may be found in 

 California : stems low, from a woody base, strict, glandular-pubescent ; leaves linear, rigid, 

 short ; capsule half longer than the calyx. 



-f- -t- Bracts foliaceous : petals exceeding the calyx, or wanting in the first. 



5. S. borealis, Bigelow. Glabrous : stems usually weak, erect or spreading, 

 branched, ^ to 1J feet high : leaves linear-lanceolate to ovate-oblong, ^ to 2 inches 

 long, 1 to 5 lines wide, acute, usually spreading : flowers in dichotomous cymes, on 

 pedicels \ inch long, at length spreading or deflexed : sepals ovate to lanceolate, a 

 line or two long, usually short : petals 2-parted, included, 2 to 5, or more usually 

 wanting : capsule ovate, 1 to 2 lines long : seeds smooth. 



Wet places in Mendocino County, Bolander ; the form with larger calyx. A common species 

 northward, and in the mountains, across the continent ; also in the Old World. The variety 

 alpestris, Gray (var. corollina, Fenzl), with the bracts small and partly scarious, and with 

 roughish seeds, occurs in Oregon and may be found in California. 



6. S. Jamesii, Torrey. Somewhat viscidly pubescent, rather stout, ascending, 

 branched, a foot or two high : leaves linear- to ovate-lanceolate, 1 to 3 inches long, 



3 to 9 lines wide, acuminate, dark green : pedicels divaricate, rather short, at length 

 deflexed : sepals oblong, acute, 2 or 3 lines long, the bifid petals mostly twice 

 longer : capsule ovate, snorter than the calyx : seed smooth. Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 

 183 ; Watson, Bot. King Exp. 38. 



In the Sierra Nevada (Bolander, Mrs. Ames), and in the mountains eastward to Colorado and 

 New Mexico. 



7. S. littoralis, Torrey. Pubescent throughout, ascending, a foot high, rather 

 stout : leaves ovate, an inch long, acute, rounded at base, rather thick : flowers in a 

 terminal compound cyme : sepals lanceolate, acute, obscurely 3-nerved, 2 lines long, 

 a little shorter than the 2-parted petals : styles sometimes 4 : capsule shorter than 

 the calyx. Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 69. 



Sea-shore, Punta de los Reyes, Bigelow. 



4. ABENARIA, Linn. SANDWORT. 



Sepals 5, rarely 4. Petals as many, entire or rarely emargiuate, or wanting. 

 Stamens 10. Styles 3, rarely more or fewer, opposite to as many sepals. Capsule 

 globose or short-oblong, dehiscent into as many entire, 2-cleft, or 2-parted valves as 

 there are styles, few - many-seeded. Seed reniform-globose or laterally compressed. 

 Mostly low annuals or perennials, usually tufted ; with sessile leaves, often subulate 

 and more or less rigid, without stipules ; flowers white, cymosely panicled or capitate. 



A large genus of about 130 species, very widely dispersed, many of them arctic or alpine. 



