378 CARYOPHYLLACEAE (PINK FAMILY) 



* Stipules present ; pod short. 



1. Spergularia. Styles 3. Pod 8-valved. Leaves opposite, 



2. Spergula. Styles 5. Valves of the pod opposite the sepals. Leaves whorled. 



* * Stipules none. 



•*- Styles alternate with the sepals ; stamens as many, or twice as many. 



8. Sagina. Petals 4 or 5, entire, or none. Styles 4 or 5. Pod short, 4-5-valved. 



♦- -f- Styles opposite the sepals, or, when fewer, opposite those which are exterior in the bud. 



++ Pod short, splitting into as many valves as styles ; valves often bifid or 2-parted. 



4. Arenaria. Petals entire. Styles usually 3. Valves of the pod entire, bifid, or 2-partecL 



5. Stellaria. Petals 2-cleft or none. Styles usually 3. Valves bifid or 2-parted. 



++ ++ Pod cylindrical, dehiscent by twice as many equal teeth as styles. 



6. Cerastium. Petals notched or 2-cleft. Styles 5 or 4. Seeds fixed edgewise. 



7. Holosteum. Petals denticulate or notched. Styles usually 3. Seeds fixed by the face. 



Tribe II. SILfeNEAE. Sepals united into a tube or cup. Petals (mostly convolute in the bud) 

 and stameus (10) borne on the stipe or stalk of the ovary, the former with slender claws, to the 

 base of which the corresponding filaments often adhere. Seeds numerous. Stipules none. 

 Flowers often large and showy. 



* Calyx naked ; seeds globular or kidney -shaped ; embryo curved or coiled. 



8. Agrostemma. Calyx 5-toothed, 10-nerved. Styles 5, opposite the unappendaged petals. 



9. Lychnis. Calyx 5-toothed, 10-nerved. Styles 5, alternate with the often appendaged petals. 

 10. Silene. Calyx 5-toothed, 10-nerved. Styles 3, 



1) , Saponaria. Calyx ovoid or sub-cylindrical, obscurely nerved, terete or 5-angled. Pod shortly 

 4-valved. Styles 2. 



12. Gypsophila. Calyx top-shaped or campanulate. Pod deeply 4-valved. Styles 2. 



* * Calyx with scaly bractlets or small leaves at the base ; seeds flattened on the back, attached by 



the face ; embryo nearly straight ; styles 2. 



13. Tunica. Calyx top-shaped or prismatic, with 5 strong nerves ; flowers small. 



14. Dianthus. Calyx cylindric or nearly so, with many fine nerves ; flowers showy. 



1. SPERGULArIA J. & C. Presl. Sand Spurret 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, entire. Stamens 2-10. Styles and valves of the many- 

 seeded pod 3, very rarely 5, when the valves alternate with the sepals ! Em- 

 bryo not coiled into a complete ring. — Low herbs, ours annuals or biennials, 

 mostly on or near the sea-coast, with filiform or linear opposite leaves, and 

 smaller ones often clustered in the axils ; stipules scaly-mem branaceous ; flow- 

 ering all summer. (Name a derivative of Spergula.) Tissa & Buda Adans. 

 Lepigonum Wahlb. 



* Not fleshy ; stipules lanceolate^ attenuate. 



\. S. rubra (L.) J. & C. Presl. Nearly glabrous below the summit of the pros- 

 trate or ascending slender stems, peduncles, and sepals usually glandular-pubes- 

 cent ; leaves linear, flat, scarcely fleshy ; stipules lanceolate, entire or cleft ; 

 pedicels longer man the bracts; pods and pink-red corolla small (3 mm. long), 

 about equaling the calyx; seeds rough with projecting points^ semi-ohovate or 

 gibbous-wedge-snaped, wingless. — Dry sandy soil, e. Que. to Va. and 0., chiefly 

 near the coast, out rarely maritime. (Eu.) 



* * Distinctly fleshy, annual ; root fibrous ; stipules ovate or deltoid^ acuminate. 



2. S. marina CL.) Griseb. Much branched, procumbent or suberect, pale 

 green, mostly glandular-pubescent ; sepals nearly or quite as long as the ovoid 

 acutish pod; seeas pale brown, very minute. {8. salina J. & C. Presl; Buda 

 marina Man. ed. R; Tissa marina Britton.) — Brackish sands, etc., N. B. to 

 Fla. ; also on the Pacific Slope and in saline regions of the interior. (Eurasia.) 



3. S. canadensis (Pers.) Don. Diffusely branched, greener, smoother and 

 somewhat more siender than the preceding species j sepals rounded at the apex, 



