376 ILLECEBRACEAE (KNOT WORT FAMILY;) 



ILLECEBRACEAE (Knotwort Family') 



Herbs, with mostly opposite and entire leaves, scarious stipules (except m 

 Scleranthus) , a 4:-5-toothed or -parted herbaceous or coriaceous persistent calyx^ 

 stamens borne on the calyx, as many as the lobes and opposite them or fewer, 

 styles 2 and often united, and fruit a 1-seeded utricle. Seed upon a basal 

 tunicle, the embryo (in ours) surrounding the mealy albumen. — Small diffuse 

 or tufted herbs, ^^ith small greenish or whitish flowers in clusters, or dichoto- 

 mous cymes, with petals minute or none. 



1. Scleranthus. Stamens borne on the throat of the indurated 5-cleft; and pointless calyx. 



Styles 2. Stipules none. 



2. Anychia. Stamens on the base of the 5-parted awnless calj^x. Styles hardly any. 



3. Paronychia. Stamens on the base of the 5-parted calyx ; the sepals hooded at the summit 



and bristle-pointed. Style 1, 2-cleft at the top. 



1. SCLERANTHUS L. Knawel 



Sepals 6, united below into an indurated cup, inclosing the utricle. Stamens 

 10 or 5. Styles 2, distinct. — Homely little weeds, with awl-shaped leaves, ob- 

 scure greenish clustered flowers, and no stipules. (Name from a-KXrjpds, hard, 

 and dvdos, floicer, from the hardened calyx-tube.) 



1. S. ANNUus L. Much branched, spreading (7-12 cm. high); flowers sessile 

 in the forks ; calyx-lobes scarcely margined. — Waste places and roadsides. 

 (Nat. from Eu.) 



2, ANYCHIA Michx. Forked Chickweed 



Sepals 5, scarcely concave, indistinctly mucronate on the back, greenish. Sta- 

 mens 2-3, rarely 5. Stigmas 2, sessile. Utricle larger than the caly:^ Radicle 

 ttirned downward. — Small many times forked annuals, with small stipules; the 

 minute flowers in the forks, produced all summer. (A contracted derivative of 

 Paronychia.) 



1. A. polygonoides Raf. More or less pubescent, short-jointed, low and 

 spreading ; leaves somewhat petioled, mostly very narrowly lanceolate or ob- 

 lanceolate ; flowers nearly sessile and somewhat clustered. {A. dichotoma Man. 

 ed. 6, not Michx.) — Mostly in open places, N. E. to Fla., w. to Minn, and Ark. 



2. A. canadensis (L.) BSP. Smooth, lotiger-jointed, slender and erect ; leaves 

 thinner, broader and longer (1—3 cm. long) ; flowers more stalked and inflores- 

 cence diffuse. (^A. dichotoma Michx.; A. capillacea DC.) — Dry woodlands 

 through nearly the same range; more abundant north w., and extending w. to 

 Neb. 



3. PARONYCHIA [Tourn.] Adans. Whitlow-wort 



Sepals 5, linear or oblong, concave, awned at the apex. Petals (or staminodia) 

 bristle-form, or minute teeth, or none. Stamens 5. Style 2-cleft at the apex. 

 Utricle inclosed in the calyx. Radicle ascending. — Tufted herbs (ours peren- 

 nial), with dry and silvery stipules, and clustered flowers. (Greek name for a 

 whitloio, and for a plant thought to cure it.) 



1. P. argyr6coma (Michx.) Nutt. Forming broad tufts, freely branched, 

 feio of the branches fertile ; leaves linestr, flat, permanently silky ; inflorescence 

 densely cymose, surrounded by conspicuous large silvery bracts; calyx hairy, 

 short-avmed, the ai'ms flattish and usually hairy ; petals mere teeth between 

 the stamens. — Rocky slopes among the mts., w. Va. to Tt^nn. and Ga. 



Var. albimontana Fernald. Branches mostly floriferous; leaves glabrate, 

 the margins involute; cymes mostly lax; calyx usually longer, the o.wns subu- 

 late, glabrescent. — Bare mountain slopes, w. Me. and N. H. ; and locally by the 

 Merrimac R., Newburyport, Mass. 



