96 CARYOPHYLLACE^E. (PINK FAMILY.) 



12. SPERGULA, L. Spurrey. 



Stamens 5 or 10. Styles 5. The 5 valves of the pod opposite the sepals. 



Embryo spirally annular. Leaves in whorls. Otherwise as in Spergularia. 



(Name from spargo, to scatter, from the seeds.) 



CV 1. S. arvensis, L. (Corn Spdrret.) Annual; leaves numerous in the 



t\, whorls, thread-shaped (1'- 2' long); stipules minute ; flowers white, in a stalked 



*Ww£ panicled cyme ; seeds rough. — Grain-fields. (Adv. from Eu.) 



13. ANYCHIA, Michx. Forked Chickweed. 



Sepals 5, scarcely concave, indistinctly mucronate on the back, greenish. 

 Petals none. Stamens 2-3, rarely 5. Stigmas 2, sessile. Utricle 1 -seeded, 

 larger than the calyx. Eadicle turned downwards. — Small, many times forked 

 annuals, with small stipules, and minute flowers in the forks, produced all sum- 

 mer. ( Same derivation as the next genus. ) 



1. A. dichotoma, Michx. Erect or spreading; leaves varying from 

 lanceolate to elliptical, somewhat petioled. Varies much ; in woods or rich soil 

 being very smooth, erect (6' - 10' high) and capillary, with long joints, the leaves 

 broader and thinner (5"- 10" long), and the flowers more stalked (A. capillacea, 

 Nutt. and Queria Canadensis L. ) : in sterile or parched soil it is pubescent, low 

 and spreading, short-jointed, narrower-leaved, and the flowers nearly sessile and 

 more clustered (A. dichotoma, DC). Common throughout. 



14. PARONYCHIA, Tourn. Whitlow-wort. 



Sepals 5, linear or oblong concave, awned at the apex. Petals bristle-form, 

 or minute teeth, or none. Stamens 5. Style 2-cleft at the apex. Utricle 1- 

 seeded, enclosed in the calyx. Radicle ascending. — Tufted herbs, with dry and 

 silvery stipules, and clustered flowers. (Greek name for a whitlow, and for a 

 plant thought to cure it.) 



1. P. argyrdcoma, Nutt. Forming broad tufts, branched, spreading; 

 leaves linear ; flowers densely clustered, surrounded by conspicuous large silvery 

 bracts; calyx hairy, short-awned; petals mere teeth between the stamens. 

 1J. — Slides in the Notch of the White Mountains, New Hampshire, and bare 

 summits above. Alleghany Mountains from Virginia southward. July. 



2. P. dichotoma, Nutt. Smooth, tufted; stems (6'- 12' high) ascending 

 from a rather woody base; leaves and bracts awl-shaped; cymes open, many-times 

 forked; sepals short-pointed; minute bristles in place of petals. )\. — Rocks, 

 Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and southwestwajd. July- Sept. 



15. SCLERANTHUS, L. ELxawel. 



Sepals 5, united below in an indurated cup, enclosing the 1 -seeded utricle. 

 Petals none. Stamens 10 or 5. Styles 2, distinct. — Homely little weeds, with 

 awl-shaped leaves, obscure greenish clustered flowers, and no stipules. (Name 

 from a-KXrjpos, hard, and avOos, flower, from the hardened calyx-tube.) 



1. S. annuus, L. Much branched, spreading (3' -5' high) ; flowers sessile 

 in the forks ; calyx-lobes scarcely margined. — Waste places. (Nat. from Eu.) 



