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MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED. CERAST1UM, 



Note, All the species are hairy, have white flowers, 

 and opposite sessile leaves. 



BROAD-LEAVED MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED. C. vulyatum. 



Plate 6, fig. 6. 

 Stems erect. Leaves ovate. Capsules upright. 



An upright plant, four or six inches high, somewhat branched, 

 with ovate leaves, small flowers, and petals equal in length to 

 the calyx. The capsule is many-seeded, grows much beyond 

 the calyx, and opens at the top with ten teeth. Petals deeply 

 cleft. Abundant everywhere in fields, and on walls and road- 

 sides ; flowering in April and May. 



NARROW-LEAVED MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED. C. viscosum. 



Plate 6, fig. 7. 

 Stems prostrate. Leaves oblong, ovate. Capsules drooping. 



Very similar in habit to the last, growing also in similar 

 situations, and resembling it in the shape of the corolla and 

 seed vessel. The difference is that the petals are shorter than 

 the calyx ; the ripe seed vessel bent back or downwards, the 

 leaves narrower, and the whole plant more straggling, prostrate, 

 and darker in color ; it is also a perennial, and the last species 

 is annual. In flower from May to August. The capsules of 

 both are longer than their stalks. 



LITTLE MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED. C. semidecandrum. 



Plate 6, fig. 8. 

 Stem upright. Leaves ovate. Capsules bent back. 



This is smaller and earlier in flower than either of the above. 

 Its petals are shorter than the calyx, and the ripe capsule bent 

 back as in the last, with the erect mode of growth, and ovate 

 leaves of the first ; while the petals are less cleft, and the calyx 

 leaves blunter than in either. There are rarely more than five 

 stamens, besides which the capsule is generally shorter than its 

 stalk, and quite straight* 



