Cerastium. ("AKVOI'II VI.I.ACK.i:. 229 



U. S. Nat. Herb. i. 9.}, t. 2 —Hills, Tcxa-x. Blanco, U'lli/lif, to Arizona, on tho MogollonH. 

 Greene, Santa Cataliiia Mia., Limimm. (Ml-x., Pabiur ; Lower Calif., liranilnjie.) 

 C. maximum, L- Stolon if erous jM-rennial with stcni.s 8ini|)lc or nearly »<o, ertM-t or dccum- 

 Iteut, l)fLoniing a foot or inun; in lieij^lit : leaves linear or lancfolate, attenuate: HowerM 

 very large ft^r tlie genus, an inch in diameter, home on erect ]»eilicel« in simple or cotn|><)un(l 

 cymes: sepals oltlong or narrowly ovate, olituse, 3 to 4 lines li»ng: petals ohovate, much 

 exceeding the calyx, deeply notched at the apex : capsule symmetrical, much exsorted at 

 matuiity. — ISjjec. i. 439 ; Ledeh. Ic. t. 242; Fenzl in Ledeh. Fl. Itoss. i. 399 ; .Seem. But. 

 Herald, 51. C. (/ramie, Greene, I'ittonia, ii. 229. — Alaska. (Silieria.) Asiatic sjx-cimenH 

 of this species, identified at the St. I'etershurg (ianlens, show that the capsule l>ecomes 

 cyliudric and much longer than figured by Ledeljour. 



§ 2. Orthodox, Scringe. Styles nornmlly 5 ; teeth of capsule erect or 



spreading; the edges sometimes slightly reflexed. — Seringe, I.e. 415. — Our 



species have pubescent leaves. 



* Flowers comparatively small : petals 1 to U times as long as the sepals. 

 -)— I'ods 1 to 1| times as long as the caly.x : introduced or doubtfully indigenous weeds. 



C. VI lgAtum, L. (Common Mouse-ear Ciiickweed.) Perennial, viscid-pube.scent, leaves 

 oblong, obtusely pointed : lower pedicels in fruit consiileraldy exceeding the calyx : bracts 

 herbaceous: sepals 2 to 3 lines long, obtu.se, often purple-tipped, ap])earing acute through 

 the infolding of the scarious margins : petals as long as the calyx. — S|)ec. ed. 2, 027 ; 

 Hegel, Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. xxxv. 313; Wats. Bib). Index, 101; Wats. & Coulter in 

 Gray, Man. ed. 6, 88. C. viscosum, L. in herb.; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 187; Gniy, Man. 

 eils. 1-5, etc. C. fulvum, Haf. Pre'c. Decouv. 30. C. tririale. Link, Knum. Hort. Bend. j. 

 433. — Very common on roadsides, in fields, etc., but also often remote from habitations 

 and cultivated ground, thus perhaj»s native; fl. through the summer. (Probably uat. from 

 the Old World.) 



C. visc6srM, L. (Mouse-e.\r Chickweed.) Annual, lower and less spreading than the 

 last, viscid-pubescent, 3 inches to a span high: leaves oval or elliptic-oblong, very obtuse ; 

 the lowest narrowed below to short margined petioles : flowers small, at first den.sely clus- 

 tered at the ends of the branches, becoming laxer in fruit, but even the longest pedicels not 

 exceeding the acute sepals, wliich are 1| to 2 lines iu length: bracts herl)ace<)us : jietals 

 scarcely eiiualling the calyx: stamens fre(|uently 5. — Spec. i. 437; Hook. f. Arc. PI. 288; 

 Wats. Bibl. Index, 101 ; Wats. & Coulter in Gray, Man. ed. 6, 88. C. viili/atum, L. in herb. ; 

 Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 187: Gray, Man. eds. 1-5; and others. C. hirsittum, Mnhl. Cat. 40. 

 C. (jlomerutiim, Tluiill. as used by Hook. f. and others. C. connalnm, Beck, Bot. 55. Dejiau- 

 perate forms with few flowers and short caiisulc have been regarded a.s indigenous, being 

 the C. viscosum, var. lenellum, Grenier, 1. c. 200, and the C. semiilecandnim, of authors, not 

 of L. — Koadsides, lawns, etc., widely distributed in the Uniteil States and Canada, but in 

 most regions much less common than the ])receding. (Probaldy nat. from the Old World ) 

 Delicate specimens apparently to be referred to this species, but with minute apetalous 

 flowers, have been collected at San Diego, Calif., Omitt. 



C. semidecAndrim, L. Near the two preceding, but smaller ami with shorter leaves: bracts, 

 at least the upper ones, conspicuously scarious-margined : i)edicels in fruit hmger than the 

 calyx. — Spec. i. 438; C. vnlqatnm, var.? semidecandrum. Gray, Man. ed. 5, 94. — New Jer- 

 sey, Drilton, Peters, to Norfolk, Va., Dritton, Small. (Adv. from Eu., W. Asia ) 

 ^- ^_ p,),ls 2 to 3 times as long as the calyx : indigenous species. 



C. brach^podum, Kouinson. Pale green annual, finely pube.scent and .somttinies viry 

 viscid: l.avcs liiicar-oldong to oblanceolate, olitusish, seMom more than an inch in length: 

 flowers in more or less open dicliotomous cymes ; i)edicels, even the lower ones, only e.|nal- 

 ling or little exceeding the capsules, erect or deflexed. straight or gently curved, not hiMiked. 

 — Holiins.m in Britton, Mem Torr. Club, v. 1.50, & Proc. Am. Acad. xxix. 277. C. nuhitis, 

 var. hrarhji find urn, Kngelm. in herb. — St. Loui.s. Mo, Kii'irlinann. to the Bl.nck Hills, S. 

 Dakota, /ii/dherti, wo.stwanl and .southward to Nevada, Andtrsmi, W'.itsun, Ari/.<>n.% Palmrr, 

 New Mexico, Fendler, and I>ouisiana. (Mex., Schajfner, Palmer, Ilartman.) C. tmellum, 



