28 



CARYOPHYLLACEAE. 



[VOL. II. 



8. Cerastium cerastioides (L,.) Britton. 

 Starwort Chickweed. (Fig. 1491.) 



Stellaria cerastioides L. Sp. PI. 422. 1753. 

 Cerastium trigymim Vill. Hist. PI. Dauph. 3:645. 1789. 



Cerastium cerastioides Britton, Mem. Torr. Club, 5: 

 150. 1894.. 



Perennial, glabrous except a line of minute hairs 

 along one side of the stem and branches, rarely 

 pubescent throughout. Flowering branches as- 

 cending, 3 / -6 / long; leaves linear-oblong, 4 // -8" 

 long, about i" wide, obtuse, the lower often smaller 

 and slightly narrowed at the base; flowers solitary 

 or few, 5 // -6 // broad, long-pedicel led; petals 2- 

 lobed, twice the length of the obtuse or acutish 

 scarious-margined sepals; capsule nearly straight, 

 twice the length of the calyx; styles 3, rarely 4 or 5; 

 sepals and petals 5 or 4. 



Gasp, Quebec, and in arctic America. Also in arctic 

 and alpine Kurope and Asia. Summer. 



12. HOLOSTEUM L,. Sp. PI. 88. 1753. 



Annual erect herbs, often viscid-pubescent above, with cymose-umbellate, white flowers 

 on long terminal peduncles. Sepals 5. Petals 5, emargiuate or eroded. Stamens 3-5, hy- 

 pogynous. Styles 3. Ovary i -celled, many-ovuled. Capsule ovoid-cylindrical, dehiscent 

 by 6 short valves or teeth. Seeds compressed, attached by the inner face, rough. [Greek, 

 signifying all bone, an antiphrase, the herbs being tender.] 



About 3 species, natives of Europe and temperate Asia. 



i. Holosteum umbellatum L,. Jagged 

 Chickweed. (Fig. 1492.) 



Holosteum umbellatum I,. Sp. PI. 88. 1753. 



Glabrous or slightly downy below, viscid and 

 glandular-pubescent above, simple, tufted, s'-ia' 

 high. Basal leaves spreading, oblanceolate or 

 oblong; stem-leaves oblong, acute or obtuse, ses- 

 sile, *A'-\' long; umbel terminal, 3-8-flowered; 

 pedicels very slender, about i' long, erect or as- 

 cending in flower, subsequently reflcxed and again 

 erect when the fruit is mature; flowers white, 2"- 

 3 // broad; sepals obtuse, about 2" long, scarious- 

 margined, somewhat shorter than the eroded petals; 

 capsule ovoid, nearly twice the length of the sepals, 

 its teeth recurved. 



\\-ry abundant in the vicinity of Lancaster, Pa.; 

 Delaware. Naturali/.ecl from Kurope. Native also of 

 northern Asia. April-May. 



13. MOENCHIA Khrh. Beitr. 2: 177. 1788. 



Low annual glabrous herbs, with small narrow sessile leaves. Flowers rather large, ter- 

 minal, solitary or cymose, 4-parted or sometimes 5-parted, white. Sepals scarious-margined, 

 lanceolate. Petals entire. Stamens 4-10. Styles as many as the sepals and opposite them. 

 Capsule cylindric, equalling or shorter than the calyx, 8-toothed or rarely lo-toothed, the 

 teeth somewhat revolute at maturity. [In honor of Konrad Moench, Professor in Marburg.} 



Two or three species, natives of the Mediterranean region. 



