86 CARYOPHYLLACE.E. (PINK FAMILY.) 



many others clustered in the axils ; cyme diffuse, naked, many-flowered ; sepalt 

 pointed, 3-ribbed, ovate, as long as the pod. (A. stricta, Michx.) Rocks and 

 dry wooded banks, Vt. and Penn. to Minn., Mo., and southwestward. July. 



3. A. V^rna, L. Dwarf, alpine, densely matted, glabrous or (var. HIRTA) 

 somewhat pubescent, 1-3' high; leaves narrowly linear or awl-shaped; flow- 

 ers loosely cymose ; sepals lanceolate, pointed, 3-nerved, shorter than the pod. 

 Smuggler's Notch, Vt. (Pringle) ; north and westward. (Eu.) 



* * Leaves soft and herbaceous, filiform-linear ; petals retuse, or notched. 



4. A. patula, Michx. Diffusely branched from the slender root ; stems 

 filiform (6-10' long) ; branches of the cyme diverging ; peduncles long ; sepals 

 lanceolate, acuminate, 3 - 5-nerved. (A. Pitcheri, Nutt.) S. W. Va. to Ky., 

 111., Kan., and southward. 



5. A. Groenlandica, Spreng. (MOUNTAIN S.) Densely tufted from 

 slender roots, smooth ; flowering stems filiform, erect (2 -4' high), few-flow- 

 ered ; sepals oblong, obtuse, nerveless. Summit of the Shawangunk, Catskill, 

 and Adirondack Mountains, N. Y., of the higher mountains of New Eng., and 

 northward; alpine or subalpine. At Bath, Maine, on river-banks near the 

 sea, and near Middletown, Ct. June -Aug. Leaves and peduncles 3-6" 

 long ; flowers large in proportion. 



3. MCEHR-lNGIA. Parts of the flower sometimes in fours ; pod as in 1, 

 but the young ovary 3-celled ; seeds rather few, smooth, with a thickish ap- 

 pendage (strophiole) at the hilum ; perennials, with flaccid broadish leaves. 



6. A. lateriflora, L. Sparingly branched, erect, minutely pubescent ; 

 leaves oval or oblong, obtuse (J- Y long) ; peduncles 2- (rarely 3-4-) flowered, 

 soon becoming lateral ; sepals oblong, obtuse. Gravelly shores, etc., New 

 Eng. to Penn., Mo., Minn., and northward. May, June. (Eu.) 



4. AMMAD^NIA. Styles, cells of the ovary, and valves of the fleshy pod 

 3, rarely 4 or 5 ; seeds few, smooth, short-beaked at the naked hilum ; disk 

 under the ovary more prominent than usual, glandular, IQ-lobed ; flowers 

 almost sessile in the axils, sometimes dioecious or polygamous ; root perennial. 



7. A. peploides, L. Stems (simple or forking from long rootstocks, 

 6-10' high) and ovate partly-clasping leaves (8-10" long) very fleshy. (Hon- 

 kenya peploides, Ehrh.) Sands of the sea-shore, N. J. to Maine and north- 

 ward. June. (Eu.) 



7. STELLARIA, L. CHICKWEED. STARWORT. 



Sepals 4-5. Petals 4-5, deeply 2-cleft, sometimes none. Stamens 8, 10, 

 or fewer. Styles 3, rarely 4 or 5, opposite as many sepals. Pod ovoid, 1 -celled, 

 opening by twice as many valves as there are styles, several - many-seeded. 

 Seeds naked. Flowers (white) solitary or cymose, terminal, or appearing 

 lateral by the prolongation of the stem from the upper axils. (Name from 

 stella, a star, in allusion to the star-shaped flowers.) 



* Stems spreading, flaccid, marked longitudinally with one or two pubescent 

 lines ; leaves ovate or oblong, J - 2^' long. 



S. MEDIA, Smith. (COMMON CHICKWEED.) Annual or nearly so ; lower 

 leaves on hairy petioles , petals shorter than the calyx, 2-parted, stamens 3-10. 

 Everywhere in damp grounds. (Nat. from Eu.) 



