22 CARYOPHYLLE^. {Sttllaria. 



a few long ones on the petioles. Leaves small, ovate and pointed, the lower 

 ones stalked and usually cordate. Flowers small, on rather long slender 

 pedicels, in irregularly forked leafy cymes. Petals shorter than the calyx, witli 

 narrow somewhat diverging lobes. 



In waste places. An introduced European weed, known in Britain as tlie common Chick- 

 weed. 



3. S. uliginosa, Murr.; Fenzl in Ledeb. FL Ross. i. 393. A weak 

 slender glabrous annual, usually about 6 in. long. Leaves sessile, oblong 

 or lanceolate. Flowers small, in loose forked panicles, which soon become 

 lateral. Petals shorter than the calyx, with very narrow diverging lobes. — 

 S. leptopliylla, Hance, in Walp. Ann. ii. 96. 



In rice-fields, Cham'pion and others. An introduced Em'opean weed. 



2. DRYMARIA, WiUd. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, bifid or 4-lobed. Style single, 3-lobed. Capsule 3- 

 valved. — Stipules minute, subulate. 



A genus of a few American species, one of which extends over most of the warmer regions 

 of the glohe. 



1. D. cordata, Willd. ; DC. Trod. i. 395. A weak, spreading, gla- 

 brous annual, often extending to 2 feet or more. Leaves shortly stalked, 

 ovate-cordate or orbicular, about 4 to 6 lines long and broad. Peduncles 

 slender, dichotomous, axillary or terminal. — Flowers small, green. Petals 

 shorter than the calyx. Ovules from 2 or 3 to about 10 in the ovary. 



On I'oadsides, Little Hongkong, Wilford, also Eance. A common tropical weed, both in 

 the New and the Old World. 



3. POLYCARPJEA, Lam. 



Sepals 5 J usually scarious. Petals 5, small, usually entire. Stamens 5. 

 Style single, 3-cleft or nearly entire. Capsule 3-valved. — Stipules scarious, 

 wbite. 



A small tropical or subtropical genus, chiefly Asiatic or African, one species extending 

 into tropical America. 



1. P. corymbosa, Lam. ; Am. in Tayl. Ann. Nat. Hist. iii. 90 ; Wight ^ 

 Ic. t. 112. A perennial, but often flowering the first year so as to appear 

 annual. Stems erect, from a few inches to near a foot high, more or less 

 hoary with loose cottony hairs. Leaves linear or subulate, often clustered in 

 the axils, 4 to 8 lines long. Flowers numerous, in dense cymes forming 

 broad terminal dichotomous corymbs. Sepals shining, scarious, white or red- 

 dish-brown, lanceolate and pointed, about 2 lines long. Petals not half so 

 long, ovate, obtuse. — P. corymbosa and P. spadicea, Lam., and P. stellata, 

 DC.'Prod. iii. 374. P. brasiliensis, Camb. in St. Hil. Fl. Bras. Mer. ii. 183. 

 P. atlierophora, Steud. Flora, 1843, 763. 



Hongkong, Wright, Hance. In cultivated and waste places, throughout India and the 

 Archipelago and northward to S. China ; also in tropical Afi-ica and America. 



