CARYOPHYLLE^E. 33 



Petals 5, bifid or emarginate. Stamens 10. Styles 5, rarely 4 or 3. 

 Capsule cyliDdric, often incurved, thin and translucent, 1-celled, oo -seeded, 

 dehiscent at apex by about 10 teeth. Seeds roundish -reniform. 



1. C. VISOOSUM, L. Annual, soft pubescent and somewhat clammy, the 

 branches erect or ascending from a decumbent base, % 1 ft. high: leaves 

 ovate, obovate, or oblong-spatulate, % 1 in. long: cymes in early state 

 rather dense: pedicels even in fruit only 2 lines long; the calyx as long, 

 the sepals acute : petals shorter than the calyx : capsule nearly straight, 

 much longer than the calyx. Common weed in early spring; corolla ex- 

 panding only in sunshine. Native of Europe. Feb. May. 



3. C. arvense, L. Perennial, cespitose, downy with reflexed hairs, the 

 inflorescence somewhat viscid: branches 4 8 in. high: leaves linear- 

 lanceolate, 4 10 lines long, acutish: cyme contracted, bearing about 3 

 flowers (sometimes 5; as often 1 only), the branches ascending, often 

 little exceeding the pedicel of the first flower; sepals ovate-oblong, 

 obtuse, scarious-margined, 1% 2 lines long; the obcordate petals twice 

 as long: capsule little exceeding the calyx. San Francisco, and in Marin 

 County. March June. 



4. C. pilosnm, Ledeb. Perennial, erect, stout, more or less densely 

 pilose, the inflorescence glandular- viscid : leaves oblong-lanceolate, % 1 

 in. long, 16 lines broad, acute, almost sheathing at base: fl. few, large, 

 in a terminal leafless cyme: sepals 3 4 lines long, obtuse; petals longer: 

 capsule 6 10 lines long, the slender teeth at length circinate-revolule.A. 

 Siberian and Alaskan species, said to have been found on Point Eeyes. 



5. ALSINE, Diosc. (CHICKWEED). Low herbs with mostly quadran- 

 gular stems, no stipules, and small axillary and solitary, or terminal and 

 cymose white flowers. Flowers as in Cerastium, but styles usually 3 

 only, sometimes 2 or 4. Capsule globose or oblong, cleft below the 

 middle into twice as many valves as there are styles. 



1. A. MEDIA, Camerarius (1558). Weak, procumbent, rooting at the 

 lower joints; stems marked by a pubescent line: leaves ovate, % % in. 

 long, on slender petioles, or the upper sessile: floral bracts foliaceous; 

 pedicels slender, deflexed in fruit: calyx pubescent: stamens 310: cap- 

 sule oblong-ovate, 23 lines long, equalling or exceeding the calyx. A 

 very common weed of shady places. Dec. June. 



2. A. iiilens (Nutt). Stems almost capillary, diffuse, sparingly leafy, 

 36 in. high, the whole plant very glabrous and shining, or with a slight 

 pubescence below: leaves lanceolate, % ^ in. long, acute, the lower 

 short-petiolate : fl. erect, on short pedicels, in a very lax bractless cyme: 

 sepals 3-nerved, narrow, acuminate, 2 lines long : petals deeply bifid, only 

 half as long, sometimes 0; capsule oblong, shorter than the calyx. Very 

 common, yet so delicate and inconspicuous as to be easily overlooked. 



