188 DECANDUIA — I'ENTAGYNIA. [Cerastiunt. 



Under hedges and in grass-fields, common. — a. Frequent in Devon 

 and Cornwall ; rare in Cambridge. — /3. Common in Cambridge; rather 

 ra'e in Devon and Cornwall — y. Dundee ; with hermaphrodite flowers, 

 3Ir W. Gardiner, Jan. — Ft. — a. May and June — /3. and y. .June — Sept. 

 11- — 1 — 2 ft. high, panicled above, pubescent, viscid in a siigiit degree 

 about the joints of the stem. Leaves ovate, or ovato-lanccolate. Calyx in 

 the anther-bearing flowers sub-cylindrical, in the I'ruit-bcaring ones ovate. 

 In /3. the petals are pure white and the flowers fragrant in the evening. 



19. Cerastium. Linn. Mouse-ear Chickweed. 

 * Petals not longer than the calyx. 



1. Cvulgdtum, L. (hroad-leaved 3Iouse-ear Chickweed) ;\mivy 

 nearly erect viscid above, leaves ovate, bracteas herbaceous, 

 petals as long as the calyx, flowers subcapitate, calyces oblong 

 longer than their pedicels. E. Bot. t. 789. — C. viscosum, Huds. 



Fields, pastures, and road sides, conmion. Fl. Aj)ril — June. 0. — 6 — 

 10 inches high, branched below, diciiotomous above. Petals narrow, 

 bifid at the extremity. Caps, cylindrical, as long again as the calyx, 

 curved upward. 



2. C. viscosum, L. {narrow-leaved 3Ionse-ear Chickweed); hairy 

 viscid spreading, leaves oblongo-lanceolate, bracteas membrana- 

 ceous at the margin, flowers somewhat panicled, calyces oblong 

 shorter than the pedicels. E. Bot. t. 790. — C. vulgatum, Huds. 



Pastures and waste places, wall-tops, &c. Fl. the whole summer. If. 

 — Much resembling the last, but a larger, coarser, and spreading plant; 

 with longer and narrower leaves ; calyces shorter than their footstalks 

 in general, especially when in fruit. 



3. C se?7iidecundru?n, L. {little 3Iouse-ear Chickweed) ; hairy 

 viscid suberect, leaves oblong-ovate, bracteas membranaceous at 

 the margin, flowers somewhat panicled, calyces ovate shorter than 

 the pedicel, segments with broad membranaceous margins, petals 

 slightly cloven, stam. 5. E. Bot. t. 1630 C. pumilum, Curt. 



Dry waste places, in sandy soil, on wall-tops, &c., frequent. Fl. March, 

 April. . — This displays itself, as Sir J. E. Smith well observes, in early 

 S])ring, on every wall, and withers away before the C. viscosum begins 

 to put forth its far less conspicuous blossoms. Calyx-segments acute, 

 not ''obtuse,'" longer than the petals. Reichenbach's figure {Iconogr. 

 t. 181.) represents the petals deeply bifid, as in Smith's var. /S., and the 

 capsule scarcely longer than the calyx ; whereas in E. Bot. it is figured 

 twice as long and quite straight : which differences I find to exist in my 



own specimens Mr W. Wilson thinks that this may be but an early 



flowering state of C. viscosum. 



4. C. tetrdndrum. Curt, {four-cleft Mouse-ear Chickweed) ; 

 " hairy and somewhat viscid, flowers four-cleft with four sta- 

 mens, petals inversely heart-shaped shorter than the taper-point- 

 ed calyx which is nearly as long as the capsule." (Sm.) Hook. 

 Scot. \.p. 143. — Sagina cerastoides, E. Bot. t. 166. 



Waste ground, walls, and sandy places, especially near the sea. On 

 the east of England, (Yarmouth,) the south, (Sussex,) and in Wales. 

 About Edinburgh, Banks of Tweed. Howth, Ireland. FL May, June, 



