82 ENGLISU BOTANY. 



SPECIES v.— CERASTIUM GLOMERATUM. mdll. 

 Plate CC'XXI. 



C. vul-atum, "Linnr Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. V. Carynph. Tab. CCXXIX. 



Fig. 4970. 

 C. vulgiitum, "Linn" Uooh. &, Am. P)iit. Fl. ed. viii. \>. 71. Sm. Eiig. But. 



No. 789. 

 C. viscosuni, Linn. Fries. Sum. Yeg. Scand. p. 37. Gr. &, Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. 



p. 2G7. 



E-oot annual. Stems branclicd at tlic base, erect or asccndini^. 

 Stem-leaves oval or oblong-oval. First pair of bracts smaller tban 

 the stem-leaves, ovate, entirely herbaceous ; secondary bracts ovate, 

 and also entirely herbaceous, about as long as, or even longer than, 

 the flowering pedicels. Sepals lanceolate, very acute, with narrow 

 membranous margins, the herbaceous part with distant gland- 

 tipped hairs and (especially towards the apex) numerous long arti- 

 culated ones without glands. Petals about equal in length to the 

 sepals, or a little longer, oblong, bifid at the apex (sometimes absent). 

 Fruit-stalks always erect, shorter than the calyx. Capsule exserted, 

 twice as long as the calyx, curved upwards, inclined to the line of 

 the pedicel. 



In dry places. Common, and generally distributed. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual. Spring to Autumn. 



Stems dividing at the crown of the root, as in the preceding 

 species, but more numerous, 3 to 18 inches high. Eoot-leaves 

 oblanceolate or oboA^ate ; stem-leaves generally very broadly oval, 

 but varying to oval-elliptical. Flowers scarcely \ inch across, white, 

 fasciculate from the shortness of the pedicels and from the branches 

 of the corymb not lengthening until the fruit is nearly mature. 

 Sepals much more acute than in the three preceding species, with 

 fewer glandular and more long articulated hairs, the latter extending 

 beyond the apex : sometimes the glandular hairs are entirely absent. 

 The petals are described by some authors as being hairy at the 

 claw.* Capsule at least twice as long as the sepals (sometimes 

 considerably more), very distinctly curved upwards. Seeds pale 

 ycllowish-broAvn, minute, obovate-roundish, much compressed, rough 

 with minute points. Plant pale yellowish-green, covered with hairs 

 as in the last species, but the glandular hairs are rather fewer in 

 proportion to the long white ones. 



A small apetalous form sometimes occurs, as at Red Hill, Surrey. 



* I have not observed this feature in any of the specimeus I have examined, so 

 that it is probably inconstant. 



