Chapter VI. 



Order VI.— CAEYOPHYLLE.E. The Carnation and Cliickwccd Faniilv. 



Character of the Obdeh. — Herbs with opposite, quite 

 entire or niiinitelj' serrulate leaves. Flowers heriiiiiplirodite. 

 Sepals 4 or 5, free or connate, imbricate. Petals 4- or 5, or 0, 

 liypogynous or perigjnous. Stamens, 4, 5, 8, or 10 inserted 

 with the petals, sometimes seated on, or between the lobes of 

 an annular disk. Ovary 1 -celled, bearing many (rarely few) 



ovules on a free central or basal placenta. Styles 2-5, free or 

 connate, stigniatose at the apex or inner face. Capsule many- 

 seeded, splitting into as nianj, or twice as many, valves as 

 styles. Seeds with farinaceous albumen, and a usually curved 

 terete embryo. — llandbuok of Sew Zealand Flora, j). 32. 



Description of the Order. 



3Ks- 



-Fs9 



VERY large order, abounding in temperate and cold climates X few 

 foreign members of it are shrubby in habit. The plants of this order 

 inhabit mountains, hedges, rocks, and Avaste places. Humboldt says that 

 the Cloveworts (the Chickweed Family) constitute ^V of the flowering 

 plants of France, -^V of those of Germany, ^y of those of Lapland and ^-^ 

 of those of North America. The order has no very marked properties. Some say that 

 the princijile called sapouine, which is found in some of the jdants, lias poisonous 

 qualities. There are three sub-orders : — (1.) Silene.e, the Pink tribe, Avith united 

 sepals ojiposite the stamens, when the latter are of the same number; (2.) ALSiNEiE, 

 the Chickweed tribe, AAith separate sepals, bearing the same relation to the stamens 

 as in SiLENE^ ; (3.) Molluginete, the Carpetweed tribe, in which the petals are 

 AA'anting, and the stamens are alternate with the sepals Avhen of the same nnniber. 

 There are some showy flowers in the order, such as Pinks and Carnations ; but the 

 greater number are mere Aveeds. The CloA'e Pink, Blanthns caryophyllus, is the origin 

 of all the cultivated varieties of Carnations knoAAai as Picotees, Bizarres and Flakes. 



