CARTOPHYLLACEAE (PINK FAMILY) 



139 



sepals, opening by twice as many valves as there are styles. 

 Seeds many, minutely roughened. (Fig. 90.) 



Means of control 



Close and frequent cutting for the purpose of starving the root- 

 stocks and preventing seed production. 



COMMON CHICKWEED 



Stellaria media, Cyrill. 

 (Alslne media, L.) 



Other English names: Starwort, Starweed, Winterweed, Birdweed. 



Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : Throughout the year. 



Seed-time : Throughout the four seasons. 



Range: Throughout the world. 



Habitat : Gardens, cultivated fields, lawns, meadows, waste places. 



In spite of its frail appearance, this plant is probably the hardiest 

 and the most persistent weed on earth. Its range nears the Arctic 

 Circle, and the writer picked green and 

 thrifty stems, bearing buds, flowers, and 

 seeds, within a yard of a melting snow- 

 bank, during a "January thaw" of the 

 present winter. The seed, though small, 

 retains its vitality for many years. 



Stems tufted, slender, weak, many- 

 branched, creeping or ascending, with a 

 fringe of hairs down one side. Leaves 

 usually not much more than a half-inch in 

 length, ovate, smooth, entire, the lower 

 ones with hairy petioles, the upper ones 

 sessile, so numerous that the plant often 

 covers the ground like a green mat. Flowers 

 in terminal, leafy cymes or solitary in the 

 axils, on very slender pedicels ; each of the 

 five small, snowy petals is cleft down its 

 center, forming a white star, which is set 

 within a larger green one, formed of media), 



