CARYOPHYLLACEAE. [VOL. II. 



i. Saponaria officinalis L,. Soapwort. Bouncing 

 Bet. Hedge Pink. Bruise-wort. (Fig. 1466.) 



Saponaria officinalis L- Sp. PI. 408. 1753. 



Perennial, glabrous, erect, stout, sparingly branched, leafy, 

 i-2 high. Leaves ovate or oval, 2 / -3 / long, about i' wide, 

 strongly 3~5-ribbed, acute, narrowed at the base into a 

 broad short petiole; flowers pink or whitish, about i' broad, 

 in dense terminal corymbs, with numerous small lanceolate 

 bracts or floral leaves; calyx tubular, S // -io // long, faintly 

 nerved, 5-toothed; petals obcordate with a scale at the base 

 of the blade; pod narrowly oblong, shorter than the calyx. 



. Roadsides and waste places, common in most districts and es- 

 caped from gardens, spreading by underground stolons. Natu- 

 ralized from Europe. Flowers sometimes double. Summer. 

 Called also Fuller's-herb, Old Maid's Pink and Sheepweed. 



8. VACCARIA Medic. Phil. Bot. i: 96. 1789. 



Annual glabrous and glaucous erect dichotomously branching herbs, with clasping ovate 

 or ovate-lanceolate acute leaves, and rather small red or pink slender-pedicelled flowers in 

 terminal cymes. Calyx cylindric in flower, becoming sharply 5-angled and inflated in fruit, 

 5-toothed, not bracted at the base. Petals much longer than the calyx, not appendaged. 

 Stamens 10. Styles 2. Capsule 4-toothcd. Seeds laterally attached; embryo curved. 

 [Latin, cow, in allusion to its value for fodder.] 



About 3 species, natives of Kurope ami AM.I 



i. Vaccaria Vaccaria (L.) Britton. 

 Cow-herb. (Fig. 1467.) 



Saponaria Vaccaria t. Sp. PI. 409. 1753. 

 Vaccaria vulgar i.t Host, 1-1. Aust. i: 518. 



Branching above, i-3 high. Leaves lanceo- 

 late or ovate-lanceolate, l'-3' long, #'-1' wide, 

 acute, connate at the base; flowers pale red, 3"- 

 4" broad, borne in loose corymbose cymes; 

 calyx oblong or ovate, 5"-7" long, 5-ribbed, 

 much inflated and wing-angled in fruit, petals 

 crenulate, with no scale at the base of the blade. 



In waste places, Ontario to British Columbia, 

 south to Florida and Louisiana. Locally abundant. 

 Also in the Rocky Mountain region. Nattirali/ed 

 or .idvcntivc from Europe. June-Aug. 



9. DIANTHUS L. Sp. PI. 409. 1753. 



Stiff perennial (rarely annual) herbs, mainly with narrow leaves. Flowers terminal, 

 solitary or cymosc-pauiculate, generally purple. Calyx 5-toothcd, finely and equally many- 

 striate, tubular, several-bracted at the base. Petals 5, long-clawed, dentate or crenate. 

 Stamens 10. Styles 2. Ovary i-celled, stipitate. Capsule cylindric or oblong, stalked, de- 

 hiscent by 4 or 5 short teeth at the summit. Seeds compressed, laterally attached. Embryo 

 straight, excentric. [Greek, the flower of Jove.] 



Species about 200, natives of the Old World; one of Siberia extending into arctic America. 



Annuals; flowers clustered. 



Bracts broad, scarious. I. D. prolifer. 



Bracts narrow, herbaceous, long-pointed. 2. D. Armeria. 

 Perennials. 



Flowers solitary; leaves linear, short. 3. D. del t aides. 



Flowers clustered; leaves lanceolate. 4. D. barbatus. 



