Stdlaria. CARYOPHYLLACE^. 57 



From the Atlantic States to "Washington Territory, Utah, and Northern Mexico ; collected by 

 Anderson in the mountains above Carson City, Nevada. 



2. C. arvense, Linn. Perennial, downy with refiexed hairs, cespitoso ; stems 

 erect, 3 to 12 inches high: leaves linear to linear-lanceolate, 4 to 12 lines long, acute, 

 clasping : cyme few-flowered, usually narrow ; pedicels mostly long, erect or nod- 

 ding : calyx 1|^ to 3 lines long, the petals nearly twice longer : capsule little ex- 

 ceeding the calyx, nearly straight. 



Northern States and westward in the mountains to Colorado and Washington Territory : also 

 European and Asiatic. Found but sparingly in California, at the Russian Colony, and by 

 Bolander in Mendocino County at Noyo, in sandy fields among shrubs, and on the East Fork of 

 Eel River. The latter specimens might be referred to C. oblongifolium, Torrey, which seems to 

 be but a form of C. arvense with the capsule a half longer than the calyx. 



3. C. pilosum, Ledeb. Perennial, erect, rather stout, more or less densely 

 pilose, glandular-pubescent above : leaves oblong-lanceolate, |- to an inch long, 1 to 

 6 lines broad, acute, almost sheathing at base : flowers large, few : calyx 3 to 4 Hues 

 long, the petals half longer: capsule 6 to 10 lines long, the slender teeth at length 

 circinate. — Icon. Eoss. t. 351. C. stellarioides, Mo^ino, Icon. Ined. t. 54.; Torr. & 

 Gray, Fl. i. 187. 



Alaska and Siberia ; Punta de los Reyes {Bigdow), referred to C. ohlongifoUum in Pacif. R. 

 Rep. iv. 70. 



3. STELLARIA, Linn. Ciiickweed. 

 Sepals 5, rarely 4, Petals as many, 2-cleft, rarely none. Stamens 10, or fewer 

 by abortion. Styles 3, or rarely 2, 4, or 5, opposite to as many sepals. Capsule 

 globose to oblong, many-seeded, dehiscent to below the middle into twice as many 

 valves as styles. Seeds reniform-globose or laterally compressed, — Low herbs, 

 mostly diffuse ; leaves rarely subulate ; flowers white, solitary or cymose, terminal 

 or becoming lateral ; stems mostly 4-angled. 



Including 70 species or more, widely distributed, especially in the temperate and colder regions ; 

 about 20 North American. 



* Leaves ovate, petioled : stems marked hij a pubescent line : petals shorter than the 

 calyx : annual or nearly so, introduced. 



1. S. media, Linn. Weak and spreading, rooting at the lower joints : leaves 3 

 to 9 lines long, on hairy petioles, or the uppermost sessile : flowers on slender pedi- 

 cels, deflexed in fruit, with foliaceous bracts : calyx pubescent : stamens 3 to 10 : 

 capsule oblong-ovate, 2 to 3 lines long, equalling or exceeding the calyx. 



A common introduced weed, in shady places, native of Europe. 



% * Leaves linear to lanceolate, sessile : j'^erennials, excepting the first. 

 -§- Bracts small and scariotcs ; petals small or wanting, or often exceeding the calyx in 



the last. 



2. S. nitens, Xutt. Annual, slender : stems 3 to 6 inches high, erect or spread- 

 ing, smooth and shining, often slightly hairy at base : leaves lanceolate,_ 3 to G hues 

 long, acute, the lower shortly petiolate : flowers erect, on short pedicels : sepals 

 3-nerved, narrow, acuminate, shining, two lines long, twice longer than the deeply 

 lobed petals, which are sometimes wanting : capsule oblong, shorter than the calyx, 

 rather few-seeded. — Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 185 ; Torr. in Pacif R. Pep. iv. 69. 



Valleys and foot-hills from Los Angeles northward to the British boundary ; Guadalupe Island, 

 Palmer. 



3. S, umbellata, Turcz. Glabrous : stems very slender, ascending, from slen- 

 der creeping rootstocks, which are covered with orbicular scale-like colorless bracts : 

 leaves spreading, elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, acute at each end, 4 to 8 hues long : 



