CARYOPHYLLACE^E. (riNK FAMILY.) 53 



base or the central column of the l-celled (rarely 3 - 5-celled) pod, with a 

 slender embryo coiled or curved around the outside of mealy albumen. 

 Bland herbs ; the stems usually swollen at the joints ; uppermost leaves 

 rarely alternate. Leaves often united at the base. Calyx imbricated in 

 the bud, persistent. Styles stigmatic along the inside. Seeds amphitro- 

 pous or campy lotropous. There are several suborders, of which the first 

 three are the principal. 



Synopsis. 



SUBORDER I. SILENEjE. THE PROPER PINK FAMILY. 



Sepals united into a tubular calyx. Petals and stamens borne on the 

 stalk of the many-seeded pod, the former with long claws included in the 

 calyx-tube, mostly convolute in aestivation. Seeds numerous. Stipules 

 none. Flowers mostly showy. 



* Calyx with scaly bractlets at the base. Seeds flattened : embryo nearly straight. 

 1 DIANTHUS. Calyx terete, mostly cylindrical. Styles 2. 



# * Calyx naked. Seeds globular or kidney-shaped : embryo curved or coiled. 



2. SAPONARIA. Calyx terete. Styles 2. 



3. VACCARIA. Calyx 5-angled and in fruit 5-winged. Styles 2. 



4. SILENE. Calyx 6-toothed. Styles 3, rarely 4. 



5. AGROSTEMMA. Calyx with 5 narrow leafy lobes. Styles 5. 



SUBORDER II. A L SINE .33. THE CHICK WEED FAMILY. 



Sepals distinct or nearly so. Petals without claws (sometimes none), 

 mostly imbricated in aestivation, and with the stamens inserted at the base 

 of the sessile ovary, or into a little disk which often coheres with the 

 base of the calyx. Pod splitting into valves, few - many-seeded. Stamens 

 opposite the sepals, when not more numerous than they. Low herbs. 

 Stipules none. 



* Styles opposite the sepals, or, when fewer, opposite those which are exterior hi the bud. 



- Valves of the pod as many as the styles (usually 3), and entire. 



6 HONKENYA. Seeds few, at the base of the pod. Stamens borne on a thick and glandu- 

 lar 10-lobed disk. 



7. ALSINE. Seeds many, attached to a central column, naked. 



- - Valves or teeth into which the pod splits twice as many as there are styles. 

 H- Pod splitting to the middle or farther into valves. 



8. ARENARIA. Petals 5, entire. Styles 3. Pods at first 3-valved, the valves soon 2-cleft, 



making 6. Seeds rough, naked. 



9. MCEHRINGIA. Petals 4 - 5, entire. Styles 2-4. Pods 4-8-valved. Seeds smooth and 



shining, appendaged at the hilum. 



1 0. STELLARIA. Petals 4-5, mostly 2-cleft, sometimes minute or none. Styles (2 - 5) most- 



ly 8. Pods splitting into twice as many valves. Seeds not appendaged. 

 ^ +* Pod opening only at the top by teeth. 



11. HOLOSTEUM. Petals 5, denticulate at the end. Stamens and styles mostly 3. 

 32. CERASTIUM. Petals 4 - 5, usually 2-cleft. Styles as many as the petals. 



* * Styles alternate with the sepals : stamens as many as they, sometimes twice as many. 

 18. SAGINA. Petals 4 -5, undivided, or none. Styles 4 -5. Pod 4 - 5-valved. 



5* 



