Tin-J ART ALUfM OF XFW XKALAM) FLoUA. 



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GENUS 11. 



STELLARIA {Li,,,,.) 'V\\c Star- worts. 



Genkkic ClUUACTKK. — Ercct, or (U'cumbfnt. lierbs, 

 annuiil (or jjeroiiiiial) witli Hat or acerose leaves, and axillary 

 or fascieled white llowers. Sepals 5, spreading. Petals 5, 

 bidd ur U. Stamens 10 or fewer, hjpogynous, or seated on an 



annidar di^k. Styles 3 ; ovules lew or many. C'aptulc K'oboM! 

 oblong, or ovoid, splitting into :i billd orij valves. Seede often 

 murieatc. — llamlbuok iif New Zealaiid Flora, ji. 'JS. 



Description, etc. — A very large genus in the temperate and cold regions of hotli 

 hemispheres generally. Several species are indigenous to (Jreat Britain. SleUai-id 

 holostea, the " Greater Sticlnvort,"— callcxl also "Satin Slower " and "Adder's M(>at," 

 — is one of the early British hedge flowers, with long, straggling, (juadrangiilar, stems; 

 narroAV, grass-like leaves, and large, panicled, lustrous white flowers, w ith dee[)ly-cloven 

 petals. Stcllai'ia media the Common ChickAveed, is sufficiently marked, by a line ol' 

 hairs on one side of the stem, changing to the opposite side, whenever it readies a 

 pair of leaves. The genus is represented in New Zealand by the following: — (1.) S. 

 PARVIFLORA, a creeping herb ; (2.) S. elatinoides, a niinnte, creeping or ascending 

 herb; (3.) S. becipiexs, a decumbent herb; (i.) S. EoitiHii, an erect herb; (5.) S. 

 GRACiLENTA, an crect, rigid herb. 



1. STELLARIA PARVIELORA {Bonis S,- Sol.) The Small-llowered Stellaria. 



Specific CnAEACTER. — A very slender pale-green tlaceid 

 herb with prostrate, wiry, ereeping stems and branehes, a span 

 long, and npwards, wholly glabrous, exeept a few hairs on the 

 petioles. Leaves j- .\ in. long, nearly orbicular, acute, rarely 

 cordate at the base, longer than the petioles. Peduncles 

 axillary, sliorter than the leaves, 1-2 flowered, 2 bracteolate 



about the middle. Flowers minute, ,V in. diameter. Sepals 5. 

 Petals or 5, shorter than the petals. Stamens 5 or 10. 

 Capsule as long or longer than the sepals, (i-vnlved to the 

 middle. Seeds about 8, pale brown, dee]ily pitted and 

 reticulated. — Haiidhuuk of A'dc Zealand Flora, jt. 23. 



Description, etc. — This species is common to both the Northern and Middle 



Islands ; it is not uncommon in woods, and was originally found by the botanists 



Banks and Solander, on their first visit to New- Zealand. In the Nelson district, it 



ascends the mountains to a height of 5,000 feet. It is allitxl to tlie Tasmanian .S". 



flaccida. 



OTHER SPECIES OF STELLABIA. 



2. S. ELATINOIDES {Hook., F.) 



A very small, glabrous, tufted, pale-green herb. Stems, ^-1 in. long, erect or 

 creeping, very slender or rather stout. L(\aves thj- i "i- lo"g' ^^^ flowers yo "i- fbam. 

 It is indigenous to the Northern Island only, and has been found on grassy banks of 

 the East Coast, HaAvke Bay, and a part of the Lake District. 



