128 THE PINK FAMILY. 



creeping branches fi'om the base, the flowering branches ascending to 6 

 inches or a foot, with a few short, spreading hairs. Leaves heart-shaped, 

 pointed, of a thin texture, usually glabrous or slightly ciliated on the edges, 

 the lower ones small, on long stalks, the upper 1 to 2 inches long, with 

 much shorter stalks or nearly sessile. Flowers in elegant, loose, spreading 

 cymes, on long, slender pedicels, with small bracts at their base. Sepals 

 about 3 lines, the j)etals nearly twice as long, narrow, and deeply cleft. 

 Styles 3. Capsule straight, opening to near the base into 3 bifid or 6 entu-e 

 valves. 



In moist woods, throughout northern Europe and the hilly districts of 

 central, and some parts of southern Europe, and across Russian Asia to 

 western North America. In Britain, chiefly in northern and western Eng- 

 land and southern Scotland. Kot recorded from Ii-eland. Fl. summer. 



3. Chick'^reed Star'^ort. Stellaria media, Linn. 

 (Eug. Bot. t. 537. Chickweed.) 



A weak, much branched annual, glabrous, with the exception of a line of 

 hau'S down one side of the stem, and a few long ones on the leafstalks. 

 Leaves small, ovate and pointed, the lower ones stalked and often heart- 

 shaped, the upper sessile and narrower. Flowers small, on rather long, 

 slender pedicels, in irregularly forked, leafy cymes. Petals shorter than 

 the calyx, deeply cleft, with narrow, slightly diverging lobes. Stamens 

 often i-educed to 5. Styles 3. 



In cultivated and waste places, roadsides, and edges of streams, through- 

 out Europe, and Russian and central Asia, and carried out as a weed to 

 the whole of the temperate and colder regions of the globe. Abundant in 

 Britain. Fl. the whole season. 



4. Bog Starwort. Stellaria nli^nosa, Miirr. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1074.) 



A weak, slender, glabrous annual, in some measui'o intermediate between 

 the Chichweed S. and the lesser S. Stems usually about 6 inches, rarely 

 near a foot long, much shorter and tufted when on dry gi-ound. Leaves 

 much narrower than in the Chickweed S., but much shorter and broader 

 than in the lesser S., oblong or lanceolate. Flowers small, in loose, slen- 

 der, forked panicles, which, as in the lesser S., soon become lateral. Se- 

 pals about li lines long. Petals shorter, with very narrow spreading lobes. 

 Styles 3. 



In marslies and wet ditches, widely spread over Europe, Russian Asia, 

 and northern America, but not an Arctic plant, although in southern 

 Europe generally confined to mountains. Almost universal in Britain, 

 i^. spring and summer. 



5. laesser Starwort. Stellaria graminea, Lmn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 803. Lesser Stitchioort.) 



A glabrous perennial, with a creeping rootstock and slender quadrangular 

 stems, diffuse or nearly erect, often above a foot long. Leaves sessile, Imear- 

 lanceolate and pointed. Flowers smaU, in long, loose panicles, which often 

 become lateral as the flowering advances, the bracts small and scarious. 

 Sepals 3-ribbed. Petals narrow, deeply cleft, seldom exceeding the calyx. 



In meadows and pastiu-es, along hedges, tkroughout Em-ope and Russian 

 Asia. Yery common in the low gi-ounds of Britain, and up the moimtain 

 Talleys as far as cultivation extends. Fl. all summer. 



