ALSINACEAE. 



129 



2. CERASTIUM L. 



Generally pubescent or hirsute herbs, Avith terminal cymes of white flowers. 

 Sepals 5, rarely 4. Petals of the same number, emarginate or bifid (rarely 

 wanting). Stamens 10, rarely fewer. Styles equal in number to the sepals and 

 opposite them, or in some species fewer. Capsule cylindric, 1-celled, many- 

 ovuled, often curved, dehiscent by 10, rarely 8, apical teeth. Seeds rough, 

 more or less flattened, attached by their edges. [Greek, horny, referring to the 

 horn-shaped capsule of many species.] About 50 species, of wide distribution, 

 most abundant in the temperate zones. Type species: Cerastium arvense L. 



Pedicels not longer than the sepals ; flowers glomerate. 



Pedicels at length longer than the sepals ; flowers loosely cymose. 



1. C. vis cos um. 



2. C. vulgutum. 



1. Cerastium viscosum L. 

 Mouse-ear Chickweed. (Fig. 149.) 

 Annual, tufted, densely viscid-pu- 

 bescent, 4'-12' high. Leaves ovate, 

 obovate, or the lower spatulate, 4"- 

 12" long, obtuse; bracts small, her- 

 baceous; flowers 2"-3" broad, in 

 glomerate cymes; pedicels shorter 

 than or equalling the acute sepals; 

 petals shorter than the calyx, 2-cleft. 



Common in fields and waste 

 grounds. Naturalized from Europe. 

 Widely naturalized in North America. 

 Flowers in spring. 



2. Cerastium vulgatum L. 



Larger Mouse-ear Chickweed. 

 (Fig. 150.) Biennial or perennial, 

 viscid-pubescent, tufted, 6'-18' long. 

 Lower and basal leaves mostly spatu- 

 late-oblong, obtuse; upper leaves ob- 

 long, 5"-12" long; inflorescence 

 loose, the pedicels at length longer 

 than the calyx; sepals about equal- 

 ling the 2-cleft petals, 2"-3" long; 

 capsule slightly curved upward. 



Roadsides and waste grounds, oc- 

 casional. Naturalized from Europe. 

 Widely naturalized in North America. 

 Flowers in spring and summer. 



