PINK FAMILY 



CARYOPHYLLACEAE 



COMMON CHICKWEED. WINTERWEED 



Stellaria media (L.) Cyrill 



The large Pink family has representatives in nearly 



every part of the world. Some of them are valuable 



ornamental plants and others are troublesome weeds. 



The true Pinks have various types of 



outgrowths or crowns on the petals 



at the junction of claw and limb. 



The Common Chickweed is found 

 almost everywhere throughout the north- 

 ern hemisphere, not only in woods and 

 meadows and waste places but in cultivated 

 fields, gardens and lawns as well. It is 

 sometimes called Winterweed because it 

 blooms nearly the whole year round. 

 Sprigs of it are fed to pet canaries and 

 young chickens but the plant is usually a 

 nuisance in dooryard and garden. 



This is a steady-growing and much- 

 branched plant. Its stems, 3-15 inches 

 long, are hardly strong enough to stand 

 erect and so they sprawl over the ground 

 or lean upon other plants. They are 

 smooth except for a line of short sott hairs 

 along I side, and sometimes the petioles ot 

 the lower leaves are hairy. 



The flowers are small, not much more than one-quarter inch 

 across. They open fully only on sunny days. The calyx is 5-lobed 

 and its green velvety sepals are somewhat longer than thewhite 

 petals. There appear to be 10 petals but the true number is 5, 

 for each is so deeply notched that it looks like a pair. The pistil 

 has 3 styles and it matures into a small many-sided capsule 

 full of seeds. 



And here be four-o'clocks, just opening wide 

 Their many colored petals to the sun, 

 As glad to live as if the evening dun 



Were far away, and morning had not died! 



Four-o'clocks — Julia C. R. Dorr 



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