378 ORDER CARYOPHYLLE^E, OR CHICK WEED TRIBE. 



very much swollen at the points from which the leaves arise : 

 A B and this is a character 



which marks the whole 

 order. The calyx is 

 a tube composed of 

 five sepals united to- 

 gether, and separated 

 only at their points. 



Fig. 141. DIAGRAM OF THE FLOWER or CARYOPHYLLB^E. Five petals arise from 

 A. vertical section. B, horizontal section. 



the lower ends are very narrow, whilst the upper ends are 

 greatly expanded, and are irregularly jagged at their borders. 

 The stamens are ten in number, with short stalks. The ovary is 

 one-celled ; and in its centre is a column, round which a great 

 many ovules are clustered. In the Pink there are two styles, 

 each terminating gradually in a narrow' fringed stigma ; in other 

 species there are three, and in others five styles. The first 

 becomes a dry capsule, opening from the point by four valves. 

 The structure of the seed is variable. 



542. This order may be distinguished from all other polype- 

 talous Exogens, by the possession of opposite undivided leaves 

 without stipules, and by the tumefaction of the stem at the 

 nodes; it is further separated from others having the same 

 number of stamens, by the structure of the ovarium. This is 

 one of the orders in which a certain amount of variation occurs 

 in the number of the parts of the flower ; which are sometimes 

 arranged on the quaternary type, or in fours, sometimes on the 

 quinary, or in Jives. The stamens are almost invariably twice as 

 numerous as the petals. Hence, while most species of this 

 order are comprehended in the Linnsean class DECANDRIA, a few 

 fall into Octandria ; they of course belong to the orders Digynia, 

 Trigynia, and Pentagynla^ according to the number of their 

 styles. The order is divided, in the natural arrangement, ac- 

 cording to the adhesion or separation of the sepals of the calyx. 

 The division in which the calyx is tubular contains, with the 

 Pink, the Silene or Catchfly, named from often secreting a viscid 

 matter in which flies are caught ; the Cockle (Agrostemma) y 



