CHICKWEED TRIBE. ORDER LINAGES. 379 



which is often a very troublesome weed in corn-fields ; the 

 Ragged Robin (Lychnis jlos-cmuli), frequent in meadows; and 

 the Bachelors' Buttons ( //. dioica\ which is an exception to the 

 general rule, in being dioecious. The second division, which has 

 the sepals distinct, contains the numerous species of common 

 Chickweed or Stitchwort (Stellaria), the Mouse-ear Chickweed 

 (Cerastium*), of which some species are peculiar to Alpine dis- 

 tricts, whilst another affects moist situations ; and the Sandwort 

 (Arenaria), so named from the character of the soil in which 

 most of its species flourish best, though some of them are only 

 found in rocky and mountainous places. In regard to the pro- 

 perties of this order there is little to be said. The species 

 belonging to it are in general both insipid and inodorous. Many 

 of the wild species seem to be sought as favourite articles of food 

 by small animals, and some have been cultivated as fodder for 

 cows, the quantity of whose milk they are said to increase. 



543. The succeeding order is one which contains but a small 

 number of genera; but these are distributed over the whole 

 world, and afford a product of the greatest importance to Man. 

 This is the order LINAGES, or Flax tribe, which was once asso- 

 ciated with the last order, but differs from it in so many impor- 

 tant characters, that it is separated with complete propriety. 

 In the first place, the stems of the Flax are not swollen at the 

 nodes, and the leaves are usually not opposite. The sepals of 

 the calyx, which are always distinct, are not arranged in a con- 

 tinuous whorl ; but two are external, partly overlapping the 



others, which are in- 



CM f (D / 'flX ternal; tW^an^g 6 - 



ment, which is termed 



imbricated, is quite dif- 

 ferent from that which 

 we have seen in the 

 Chickweed tribe. The 



FIG. 142. DIAGRAM OF THE PARTS op THE FLOWER IN two Outer Sepals are 



THK ORDER LlNACEJE. 1 J * V. JJo 



marked * in the dia- 

 gram. The whole number is generally five, sometimes four. 

 The petals are always equal in number to the sepals. The 



c c2 



