Cerastium. CARYOPHYLLACEiE. 99 



2. Cerastium viscosum, Linn. Viscous Mouse-ear Chickweed. 



Hairy and rather viscid ; stem spreading ; leaves lanceolate-oblong, obtusish ; cymes rather 

 loosely flowered, with the pedicels mostly longer than the calyx ; capsule nearly twice as long 

 as the calyx. — Eng. hot. t. 790 ; Torr.fl. 1 . p. 458 ; Bigel.fl. Bost. p. 184 ; DC. prodr. 1 . 

 p. 415 ; Darlingt.fl. Cest. p. 278; Torr. ^ Gr.fl. N. Am. l.p. 187, C. vulgatum, Muhl. 

 cat. (fide Darlingt.). 



Perennial? Stems 6-12 inches long. Leaves an inch or more in length, sessile and 

 rather broad at the base, much shorter than the internodes. Flowers and fruit resembling 

 those of the preceding species. — A larger and coarser plant than C. vulgatum, as well as 

 deeper green and less hairy. 



Fields, road-sides, and cultivated grounds ; very common. Introduced from Europe. Fl. 

 May - September. 



3. Cerastium arvense, Linn, Field Chickweed. 



Stems declined at the base, retrorsely pubescent ; leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, rather 

 acute ; cymes few-flowered, on an elongoted naked peduncle ; petals obovate, more than 

 twice the length of the sepals ; capsule oblong, a little exceeding the calyx. — Eng. hot. 

 t. 93 ; DC. prodr. l.p. 419 ; Hook.Jl. Bor.-Am. l.p. 104 ; Torr. ^ Gr.fl. N. Am. l.p. 188. 

 C. Pennsylvanicum, Hornemann; DC. I. c. ; Hook. I. c. C. tenuifolium, Pu7'sh,fl. 1.;?. 321; 

 Torr. fl. p. 460 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 278. C. elongatum, Pursh, I. c. ; Nutt. in journ. 

 acad. Phil. l.p. 16. 



Perennial. Stems cespitose, more or less assurgent or erect, 4-8 inches high. Leaves 

 10 - 15 lines long, and 1-2 lines wide, rather acute, and late in the season somewhat rigid, 

 often fascicled in the axils. Flowers rather conspicuous. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, strongly 

 one-nerved. Petals emarginate, or slightly bifid. Capsule sometimes one-third longer than 

 the calyx. Seed reniform, muricate in curved lines. 



Rocky places; rather common. May July. Scarcely distinct from the European 

 C. arvense. ">4 



4. Cerastium oblongifolium, Torr. Oblong-leaved Chickweed. 



Stems erect or declined, villous ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, mostly obtuse ; flowers numerous; 

 peduncles viscid ; petals obovate, 2-cleft, twice tl^ length of the oblong obtuse sepals ; cap- 

 sule cylindrical, about twice as long as the calyx. Torr. in Sill. jour. 4. p. 63, andfl. I. 

 p. 460; Torr. ^ Gr.fl. N.Am. l.p. 188. C. villosum, "Muhl. cat. p. 46"; Darlingt.fl. 

 Cest. l.p. 279. C. pubescens, Goldie in Edin. phil. journ. 4. p. 387. C. Pennsylvanicum, 

 Hook.fl. Bor.-Am. l.p. 104? (excl. the syn. of C. tenuifolium). 



Perennial. Stems 6-12 inches high, rather stout, very villous, tomentose at and below 

 the nodes. Leaves an inch or more in length (sometimes shorter), ovate and oblong-lanceolate, 



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