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70 THE PINK FAMILY. 



VIII. HOLOSTEUM. HOLOSTEUM. 



Small annuals. Sepals 5. Petals 5, more or less toothed or jagged, 

 but not cleft. Stamens usually 5. Styles 3. Capsule opening in 6 

 short valves or teeth. 



Besides our species, there are but one or two from the Levant, all 

 differing from Cerastium in the less divided petals, and generally fewer 

 stamens and styles. 



1. H. umbellatum, Linn. (fig. 159). Umbellate ff. A slightly downy, 

 more or less viscid annual, seldom above 6 inches high, divided at the 

 base into several erect or ascending stems. Radical leaves spreading, 

 oblong or elliptical ; those of the stem sessile, varying from ovate to 

 linear, often half an inch long or more. The upper part of the stem 

 forms an almost leafless peduncle, bearing an umbel of 3 to 8 flowers, 

 on long pedicels, erect at the time of flowering, then turned down, and 

 erect again when the capsule is ripe. Sepals near 2 lines long, white 

 and scarious at the edges. Petals white, rather longer. 



On sandy and stony wastes, fields, and roadsides, very common in 

 southern Europe and western Asia, less so over central Europe, but reach- 

 ing southern Sweden. In Britain, only on old walls or roofs in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk. 



IX. CERASTIUM. CERAST. 



Annual or perennial herbs, usually downy or hairy, and branching at 

 the base, with white flowers in terminal forked cymes, or rarely solitary ; 

 the upper bracts often, like the sepals, scarious on the edges. Sepals 

 5, rarely 4. Petals 5, rarely 4^ usually 2-cleft, sometimes minute or 

 wanting. Stamens 10, or occasionally 5 or fewer. Styles 5, rarely 4 

 or 3. Capsule opening at the top in twice as many short teeth as there 

 are styles. 



A considerable genus, widely diffused over the whole range of the 

 family, and rather a natural one, differing generally from Steltaria in its 

 capsule, from the other British Alsinece by the cleft petals. 



Annual or biennial. Petals shorter or scarcely longer than the 



calyx . L C. vulgatum. 



Perennials. Petals considerably longer than the calyx. 

 Styles always 5. 



Leaves narrow, pointed 2. C. arvense. 



Leaves oblong or ovate, and obtuse 3. C. alpinum. 



Styles mostly 3. Leaves narrow ... . 4. C. trigynum, 



An Eastern species, with cottony leaves, 0. tomentosum, is not un- 

 .frequently cultivated in our cottage gardens. 



1. C. vulg-aturn, Linn. (fig. 160). Mouse-ear Chickweed. A coarsely 

 downy, usually more or less viscid annual, branching at the base, some- 

 times dwarf, erect, and much branched ; at others, loosely ascending to 

 a foot or even two, occasionally forming, at the end of the season, 

 dense, matted tufts, which may live through the winter, and give it the 

 appearance of a perennial. Radical leaves small and stalked ; stem- 

 leaves sessile, from broadly ovate to narrow-oblong. Sepals 2 1 to 2 4 

 lines long, green, and downy, but with more or less conspicuous scari- 

 ous margins. Petals seldom exceeding the calyx, and often much 

 shorter, sometimes very minute, or even none. Stamens often reduced 



