100 CARYOPHYLLACEiE. Cerastium. 



variable in pubescence, sometimes nearly smooth except on the margins. Cyme 7-15- 

 flowered. Flowers larger than in C. arvense. Petals cleft nearly one-third of their length. 

 Seed muricale. 



Rocky places ; rare. May. 



5. Cerastium nutans, Raf. Nodding Chickioeed. 



Viscid and pubescent ; stems erect, weak, branching from the base, sulcate-striate ; inter- 

 nodes finally much longer than the leaves ; leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate , the lower- 

 most oblong-spatulate, acute ; cymes much elongated, divaricate, many-flowered, with long 

 filiform pedicels ; petals oblong, bifid at the apex, scarcely twice as long as the obtuse sepals ; 

 capsule cylindrical, nearly three times the length of the calyx. — Raf. prec. des decouv. p. 36 ; 

 Torr.fl. \.p. 450 (excl. the syn. of C. pubescens) ; DC prodr. 1. p. 420 ; Hook.fl. Bor.-Am. 

 1. p. 104 ; Darlingt.jl. Cest. p. 280 ; Torr. ^ Gr.fl. N. Am. I. p. 189. C. longepeduncu- 

 latum, Muhl. cat. p. 47. C. glutinosum, Nutt. gen. 1. p. 291. 



Annual. Plant pale yellowish-green, very viscid, and covered with flocculent woolly pu- 

 bescence. Stems 8 - 12 inches high. Leaves 8 - 12 lines or more in length. Petals cuneate 

 at the base, slightly bifid. Capsule somewhat curved. Seeds muricate. 



Low moist and rather shady places, particularly along rivulets. May. 



Tribe II. SILENEM. DC. 



Sepals united into a cylindrical tube. Petals unguiculate, inserted with the stamens upon 

 the stipe of the ovary. Capsule one-celled {sometimes 3 - b-celled at the base). 



CONSPECTUS OF THE GENERA. 

 §. Calyx 5-toothed, without scales at the base ; petals 5 ; stamens 10. 



7. SiiXNE. Styles 3. Capsule 3-cclled at the base. 



8. Lychnis. Styles 5. Capsule one-celled, or 5-celled at the base. 



9. SiPONiRiA. Styles 2. Capsule one-celled throughout 



7. SILENE. Linn. ; Otth in DC. prodr. 1. p. 367. CATCHFLY. 



[ From the Greek, suUon, saliva ; in allusion to the viscid secretion on the stems.] 



Calyx tubular, without scales at the base, 5-toothed. Petals 5, with slender claws, which 

 usually are crowned with scales at the summit ; limb 2- or many-cleft, sometimes entire. 

 Stamens 10. Styles 3. Capsule 3-celled at the base, opening at the top by 6 teeth. 



1^ 1. Behenantha. Flowers solitary, or in paniculate cymes : calyx vesicular, inflated. 



1. SiLENE sTELLATA, Ait. (Plate XVI.) FouT-leoved Campion. 



Stem erect, branching, minutely pubescent ; leaves whorled in fours, ovate-lanceolate, gra- 



