CARYOFHYLLACEjE. (PINK FAMILY.) 59 



ovoid, opening by twice as many valves as styles, several - manj -seeded. Seeds 

 naked. Flowers (wliite) terminal, or appealing lateral by the prolongation of 

 the stem from the upper axils. (Name from stdla, a star, in allusion to the 

 star-shaped flowers.) 



* Stamens usually fewer than 10 : leaves broad. 



1. S. MEDIA, Smith. (COMMON CHICK WEED.) Stems spreading, marked 

 with an alternate pubescent line; leaves ovate, the lower on hairy petioles ; petals 

 2-parted, shorter than the calyx; stamens 3-10. () Fields and around 

 dwellings, everywhere. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. S. piabcra, Michx. (GREAT CHICKWEED.) Stems spreading, 

 marked with 2 opposite hairy lines; leaves all sessile, oblong or ovate (2' long) ; 

 petals deeply 2-cleft, longer than the calyx, ty Shaded rocks, Penn. to Kentucky 

 and southward. May. 



* * Stamens mostly 10 : manifestly perigynous: perennial : leaves narrow, sessile: 



plants glabrous throughout. 

 i- Scaly-bracted : petals 2-parted, equalling or surpassing the calyx. 



3. S. loiigifolia, Muhl. (STITCHWORT.) Stem branching above; 

 weak, often with rough angles (8' -18' high) ; leaves linear, acutish at both ends, 

 spreading ; cymes naked and at length lateral, peduncled, many-flowered, the slen- 

 der pedicels spreading ; petals 2-parted, soon longer than the calyx ; seeds smooth. 

 - Grassy places, common, especially northward. June, July. (Eu.) 



4. S. loiigipcs, Goldie. (LONG-STALKED STITCHWORT.) Shining or 

 somewhat glaucous, very smooth ; leaves ascending, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 

 acute, broadest at the base, rather rigid ; cyme terminal, few-flowered, the long 

 pedicels strictly erect ; petals longer than the calyx ; seeds smooth. Maine to 

 "Wisconsin, rare : common farther north. (Eu.) 



5. S. uligiaosa, Murr. (SWAMP STITCHWORT.) Stems weak, de- 

 cumbent or diffuse, at length prolonged, leaving the naked and usually sessile 

 cymes lateral ; leaves lanceolate or oblong, veiny ; petals and ripe pods as long as the 

 calyx; seeds roughened. (S. aquatica, Pollich, c.) Swamps and rills, Phila- 

 delphia, and "Westchester, Pennsylvania (Darlington, <fcc.). New Hampshire 

 (Blake), and northward in British America. (Eu.) 



+- *- Leaf(/-bracted, the flowers in the forks of the stem or of leafy branches, even 

 the latest icitlt foliaceous bracts ; petals 2-parted, small, or often none ; styles 3 - 4 ; 

 pcd longer than the calyx. 



6. S. crassi folia, Ehrhart. Stems diffuse or erect, flaccid; leaves rather 

 fleshy, varying from linear-lanceolate to oblong ; petals longer than the calyx, or 

 wanting ; seeds rugose-roughened. An apetalous 4 - 6-androus state is Sagina 

 fontinalis, Short fr Piter. Cliffs of Kentucky River and Elkhorn Creek, form- 

 ing broad mats in springy places, Short. Ring-wood, Illinois, Va$ey. April, 

 May. Also in British America. (Eu.) 



7. S. borealis, Bigelow. (NORTHERN STITCHWORT.) Stems erect or 

 spreading, flaccid, many times forked, at length resolved into a leafy cyme ; 

 leayes varying from broadly lanceolate to ovate-oblong ; petals 2-5, shorter than 

 the calyx, or oftener none ; sepals acute ; styles usually 4 ; seeds smooth Shaded 



