Anychia. ILLECEBRACEiE. 105 



Tribe I. ILLECEBRE^. DC. 



Sepals often cuspidate or awned, usually more or less cucullate or concave at the apex 

 internally. Petals resembling sterile filaments, or none. Styles or stigmas 2, distinct 

 or united. Utricle 1-seeded. — Leaves opposite, often crowded and fascicled. 



1. ANYCHIA. Michx.fl. 1. p. 112 (in part); Juss. mem. mus. 2. p. 389 ; Torr. 4- Gr.fl. 



N. Am. 1. p. 172. FORKED CHICKWEED. 



Section of Paronychia, Fenzl tSf Endl. 



[From the Greek, onyx, onydios, a finger nail; a similar plant having been used for curing -whitlows.] 



Sepals ovate-oblong, united at the base, slightly concave, somewhat saccate at the apex, 

 slightly mucronate on the back. Petals or sterile filaments none. Stamens 2, 3 or 5, in- 

 serted on the base of the sepals. Styles very short, distinct or united at the base, stigma- 

 tose within. Utricle included in the connivent sepals. — Annual herbs, with minute axillary 

 or terminal, solitary or more or less clustered, nearly sessile, flowers. Leaves oblong or 

 lanceolate, mostly punctate, somewhat petiolate, slightly ciliate. 



1. Anychia dichotoma, Michx. Common Forked Chickweed. 



Stem erect or spreading ; stamens commonly 3. — Michx.fl. I. p. 113; Darlingt.ft. Cest. 

 p. 162; Torr. ^ Gr.fl. N. Am. 1. p. 172. 



var. 1 : stem more or less pubescent above ; leaves varying from linear-lanceolate to ellip- 

 tical ; flowers more or less clustered. — Torr. <^ Gr. I. c. A. dichotoma, Torr. ft. l.p. 273 ; 

 DC. prodr. 3. p. 369. A. Canadensis, Ell. sk. 1 . p. 307 ; Hook.fl. Bor.-Am. 1 . p. 226. Queria 

 Canadensis, Linn.; Willd. sp. pi. 1. p. 494. 



var. 2 : smooth ; branches capillary ; leaves oval or oblong, cuneiform at the base ; flowers 

 mostly solitary, slightly exserted from the stipules at their base. — Torr. ^ Gr. I. c. A. di- 

 chotoma, var. capillacea, Torr.fi. l.p. 273. A. capillacea, Nutt. gen. 1. p. 158. 



Plant 3-10 inches high, with numerous forking, and, usually, almost filiform branches; 

 when growing in dry sterile situations, often of a purplish color. Leaves 4-10 lines long, 

 minutely ciliate-scabrous, dotted with round minute immersed glands, which are at first some- 

 what pellucid, then whitish and opake, and finally brownish. Flowers scarcely the size of a 

 small pin's head, greenish, solitary in the forks of^the stem ; in the second variety, the ter- 

 minal ones in small leafy cymules ; pedicels shorter than the flowers. Sepals with a minute 

 point on the back close to the summit. Stamens rarely 5. Styles slightly united at the base, 

 rscurved : stigmas capitate. Utricle granulated with minute vesicles. Seed reniform, 

 brownish, smooth. 



Dry woods and hill-sides ; very variable in size. On sterile, sunny hill-sides, it is often 

 stunted, with more crowded and thicker branches. 

 [Flora.] 14 



I 



