PINK FAMILY. Caryophyllaceae. 



PINK FAMILY. Caryophylloceoe. 



A large family, widely distributed, most abundant in 

 the northern hemisphere, including both the handsome 

 Pinks and the insignificant Chickweeds. They are herbs, 

 with regular, mostly perfect flowers, with four or five sepals; 

 usually with four or five petals, sometimes with none; 

 stamens as many, or twice as many, as the petals; ovary 

 superior, one-celled; styles two to five in number; fruit a 

 capsule, containing several or many, kidney-shaped seeds, 

 opening by valves, or by teeth, at the top; leaves opposite, 

 toothless; stems usually swollen at the joints. The name 

 Pink comes from the petals of some kinds being cut into 

 points, or "pinked." 



There are numerous kinds of Arenaria, widely dis- 

 tributed, difficult to distinguish, with small, white -flowers 

 with five petals, usually not notched, ten stamens and 

 usually three styles; leaves usually long and narrow, often 

 stiff and growing in tufts; capsule roundish, splitting into 

 usually three valves, each with two parts. These plants 

 often grow in dry, sandy places, some at very high altitudes, 

 some by the sea, hence the Latin name meaning "sandy," 

 and the common one, Sandwort. 



Fendler's Sand- This has P r etty little white flowers, 

 wort about half an inch across, and is variable. 



Arenfrria Fendleri Sometimes the stem is roughish, only 

 three or four inches tall, springing from a ' 

 Utah, Ariz., etc. ^ u ^ ^ small leaves, stiff and almost 

 prickly. Sometimes the stem is smooth, 

 six or eight inches tall, and the leaves resemble rather fine, 

 stiff grass. This grows on dry hills and mountains, up to 

 thirteen thousand feet, from Nebraska and Wyoming to 

 Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. 



There are many kinds of Silene, widely distributed,' 

 more or less sticky plants, hence the common name, 

 Catchfly; flowers mostly rather large; calyx inflated or 

 tubular, with five teeth; petals five, with long claws, which 

 often have scales at the top, forming a "crown"; stamens 

 ten; styles usually three; capsule opening by three or six 

 teeth at the tip ; seeds numerous. 



112 



