CAROPHTLLACE.E. (PINK FAMILY.) 93 



*•*• Leafy -bracted, the flowers terminal or in the forks of the stem or of leafy branch- 

 es ; bracts foliaceous : petals 2-parted, small or ojlen none : styles 3 - 4 : pod longer 

 than the calyx. 



6. S. crassif61ia, Ehrhart. Stems diffuse or erect, flaccid; leaves rather 

 fleshy, varying from linear-lanceolate to oblong ; petals longer than the calyx, or 

 wanting; seeds rugose-roughened. — (An apetalous 4 - 6-androus state is Sagina 

 fontinalis, Short <$• Peter.) Springy places, E. Kentucky (Short), Ringwood, 

 Illinois ( Vasey), and northward. April -June. (Eu.) 



7. S. borealis, Bigelow. (Northern S.) Stems erect or spreading, 

 flaccid, many times forked, at length resolved into a leafy cyme ; leaves 

 varying from broadly lanceolate to ovate-oblong; petals 2-5, shorter than the 

 calyx, or qflener none ; sepals acute ; styles usually 4 ; seeds smooth. — Shaded or 

 wet places, Rhode Island to Wisconsin and northward. June -Aug. — 

 Var. alpestris (S. alpestris, Fries, S. Fenzlii, Regel) has the later flowers 

 more cymose, and their bracts small and partly scarious, also the seeds ob- 

 scurely reticulated or roughish. — Lake Superior, Dr. Robbins. (Eu.) 



8. S. humifusa, Rottboell. Spreading or creeping ; stems or branches (2' 

 high) 1 - 3-flowered ; leaves fleshy, ovate or oblong (2" -3" long); petals a little 

 longer than the calyx; seeds smooth. — Northern border of Maine on the St. 

 John's (G. L. Goodale), and high northward. June. (Eu.) 



8. HOLOSTEUM, L. Jagged Chickweed. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, usually jagged or denticulate at the point. Stamens 3- 

 5, rarely 10. Styles mostly 3. Pod ovoid, 1-celled, many-seeded, opening at 

 the top by 6 teeth. Seeds rough, flattened on the back, attached by the inner 

 face. — Annuals or biennials, with several (white) flowers in an umbel, borne on 

 a long terminal peduncle. (Name composed of 6Xos, all, and oa-rtov, bone, by 

 antiphrasis, these plants being soft and tender.) 



1. H. umbeliAtum, L. Leaves oblong ; peduncle and upper part of the 

 stem glandular-pubescent; pedicels reflexed after flowering. — Hills around 

 Lancaster, Pennsylvania, abundant, Prof. Porter. (Nat. from Eu.) 



9. CERASTITJM, L. Mouse-ear Chickweed. 



Sepals 5, rarely 4. Petals as many, 2-lobed or cleft, rarely entire. Stamens 

 twice as many, or fewer. Styles ecmal in number to the sepals and opposite 

 them. Pod 1-celled, usually elongated, membranaceous, opening at the apex 

 by twice as many teeth as there were styles, many-seeded. Seeds rough. — 

 Flowers white, in terminal cymes. (Name from nepas, a horn, alluding to the 

 shape of the pods in many species.) 



§ 1. Petals 2-clefl or obcordate: parts of the flower in fives: pods (except in No. 5) 

 longer than the calyx, and usually more or less curved. 

 1. C. vclgatum, L. (Mouse-ear Chickweed.) Annual, hairy and 

 rather clammy, nearly erect (4' -9' high) ; leaves ovate or obovate ; bracts herba- 

 ceous; flowers (small) in close clusters at first; pedicels even in fruit not longer 

 than the acute sepals ; petals shorter than the calyx. — Grassy places, eastward and 

 southward: not common. May -July. (The names of this and the next were 



