648 MALACHIUM. [CLASS X. ORDER IV. 



branched in a forked manner, with a solitary flower from the axis of 

 the divisions, erect in flower, spreading when in fruit. Bractea pale, 

 membranous, lanceolate, entire, with a keeled mid-rib. Peduncles 

 angular, an inch long, swollen above into a conical angular base, the 

 narrow lanceolate three ribbed segments of the calyx, quite smooth, 

 with a membranous border, and somewhat united at the base. Petals 

 small, deeply bifid, shorter than the calyx. Stamens with slender 

 awl-shaped filaments, and yellow ovate anthers, of two cells. Styles 

 slender, spreading, with downy curved stigmas. Capsule ovate, about 

 as long as the calyx. Seeds numerous, small, bright brown, kidney- 

 shaped, rough, with elevated points. 



Habitat. — Ditches and wet places ; frequent. 



Annual ; flowering in June. 



ORDER IV. 



PENTAGYN'IA. 5 Styles. 



GENUS XVII. MALA'CHIUM— Fries. Malachium. 



Nat. Ord, CARYOPHVL'tE^. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Calyx of five pieces. Petals five, bipartite, or emar- 

 ginate. Stamens ten. Capsule of five valves, the valves at the 

 end bifid. 



1. M. aqua' ticum, Fries. (Fig. 738.) Water Chickweed, or Mala- 

 chium. Stem procumbent at the base, and rooting; leaves ovate, 

 heart-shaped, sessile ; panicle forked, spreading, glandulose, pubescent ; 

 bractea herbaceous ; flowers solitary, erect ; fruit pendulous ; petals 

 deeply cleft. 



Cerastium aquaticum, Linn. — English Botany, t. 538. — English 

 Flora, vol. ii. p. 335. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 217. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 51. 



Root small, fibrous, with somewhat creeping underground stems. 

 Stems procumbent at the base, and rooting from the axis of the leaves, 

 spreading, from one to two feet long, or more, simple or branched, 

 round, ov somewhat angular, leafy, smooth below, thickly clothed 

 above with short glandular pubescence, rendering it viscid. Leaves 

 opposite, large, an inch and half long, a bright cheerful green, ovate, 

 acute, with a heart-shaped base, sessile, the lower ones sometimes on 

 footstalks, paler on the under side, with a stout mid-rib and slender 

 branched lateral veins, smooth, the upper ones more or less downy, the 

 margin entire, or frequently waved and crisped. Panicle terminal, 

 large, straggling, branched in a forked manner, with leafy bractea, and 



