CARYOPHYLLACE.E. (PINK FAMILY.) 87 



axis, or evanescent. Seeds cylindrical, straightish or curved. (A Greek name 

 for some obscure herb.) 



1. E. Americklia, Arnott. Dwarf (1' high), creeping, .rooting in the J^ (A 

 mud, tufted ; leaves obovate ; flowers sessile; sepals, petals, stamens, and stig- 

 mas 2, rarely 3 ; seeds 5 or 6 in each cell, rising from the base. (Peplis Amer- 

 icana, Pursh. Crypta minima, Nutt.) — Margin of ponds, &c, N. Hampshire, 

 to Illinois, Virginia) and southwestward. Pod very thin and delicate ; the seeds 

 large in proportion, straightish. 



Order 18. CABYOPHILLACEJ:. (Pink Family.) 



Herbs, with opposite entire leaves, symmetrical 4 - 5-merous flowers, with 

 or icithout petals ; the distinct stamens no more than ticice the number of the 

 sepals, either hypogynous or perigynous ; styles 2-5 (or rarely united into 

 one) ; seeds attached to the base or the central column of the 1-celled (rarely 

 3 - b-celled) pod, with a slender embryo coiled or curved around the outside 

 of mealy albumen, in Dianthus nearly straight. — Bland herbs; the stems 

 usually swollen at the joints ; uppermost leaves rarely alternate. Leaves 

 often united at the base. Calyx persistent. Styles stigmatic along the 

 inside. Seeds amphitropous or campy lotropous. 



Tribe I. SILEXEiE. Sepals united into a tube or cup. Petals and stamens borne on 

 the stipe or stalk of the ovary, the former with slender claws, to the base of which the cor- 

 responding filaments often adhere, included in the calyx-tube, mostly convolute in the bud. 

 Seeds numerous. — Stipules none. Flowers often large and showy. 



* Calyx with scaly bractlets or small leaves at the base. Seeds flattened on the back, attached 

 by their face : embryo nearly straight. 



1. Dianthus. Calyx terete, mostly cylindrical. Styles 2. 



* * Calyx naked. Seeds globular or kidney-shaped : embryo curved or coiled. 



2. Saponaria. Calyx terete. Styles 2. 



3. Vaccaria. Calyx 5-angled and in fruit 5-winged. Styles 2. 

 4 Silene. Calyx 5-toothed. Styles 3. 



5. Lychnis. Calyx 5-toothed or 5-lobed. Styles 5, rarely 4. 



Tribe II. ALSIXE.E. Sepals separate to the base or nearly so, imbricated in the bud. 

 Petals when present without claws, mostly imbricated in the bud, and with the stamens in- 

 serted at the base of the sessile ovary, or into a little disk which often coheres with the base 

 of the calyx. Pod splitting into valves or teeth, several- many-seeded. Stamens opposite 

 the sepals, when not more numerous than they. — Low herbs. Stipules none. 



# Styles opposite the sepals, or, when fewer, opposite those which are exterior in the bud. 



6. A re nar ia. Petals entire. Styles usually 3. Pod short, splitting into 3 or 6 valves. 



- 7. Stellaria. Petals 2-cleft or none. Styles usually 3. Pod short, splitting to the base. 



8. Holosteum. Petals denticulate or notched at the end. Styles usually 3. Pod open- 



ing at the apex by 6 teeth. Seeds fixed by their face. 



9. Cerastinm. Petals notched at the end or 2-cleft. Styles 5 or 4 (as many as the petals). 



Pod usually elongated, opening at the apex by 10 or 8 teeth. Seeds fixed edgewise. 



* * Styles alternate with the sepals : stamens as many as they, sometimes twice as many. 

 10. Sagina. Petals 4 or 5, undivided, or none. Styles 4 or 5. Pod 4 - 5-valved. 



Tribe III. ILLECEBRE.E. Sepals separate or more or less united below. Petals 

 without long claws, or minute, or often none, inserted under the sessile ovary or on the 

 calyx. Pod 1-celled and splitting into valves, or a one-seeded utricle. — Leaves with dry, 



