DECANDRIA— TRIGYNIA. Stellaria. 301 



2. S. media. Common Chickweed, or Stitchwort. 



Leaves ovate. Stems procumbent, with a hairy alternate 

 line on one side. Stamens from five to ten. 



S. media. With.W^,. FI..Br.473. Engl. Bot.v.S.t. 537. Comp.69. 



Hook. Scot. 135. Wahlenb. Lapp. 125. 

 Alsine media. Linn. Sp. PI. 389. Willd. u. 1. 151 1. Huds. 131. 



Relh. 128. Sibth. 105. Abbot 70. Curt. Land. fuse. 1. t.2Q. 



Ehrh. PI. Off. 374. H. Dan. t. 438 and t. 525. Bnuh. Pin. 250. 



Moris. V. 2. 550. sect. 5. t. 23. f. 4. 

 A. n. 880. Hall. Hist. v. 1.387. 

 Alsine. Matth. T'algr. v. 2. 458./. Camer. Epit. 850. f. Dalech. 



Hist. 1232./. 

 A. vulgaris, seu Morsus gallinee. Raii Syn. 347. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. 



p. 2. 363./. 

 A. minor. Dod. Pempt. 29./. 

 A. minor, sive media. Ger. Em. 611./, 

 A. minor recensiorum. Lob. Ic. 460./. 

 A. major. Fuchs. Hist.2\./. 

 A. primum genus. Fuchs. Ic. 10./ 

 Morsus gallinse. Trag. Hist. 385./. 



Common every where in waste and cultivated ground. 



Annual. March — November. 



Root tapering, small. Herb very variable in luxuriance, but in every 

 part much smaller than the preceding. Stem copiously branched 

 from the bottom, loosely spreading, leafy, brittle, smooth, except 

 a dense hairy, lateral line, which is interrupted and turned aside, 

 at every joint. Leaves stalked, ovate, acute, single-ribbed. Fl. 

 small, white, solitary, on simple, axillary stalks, which are like- 

 wise hairy at one side, and deflexed after flowering. Cal. hairy. 

 Stam. 3, 5, or 10, each with a gland at the base, on the outside. 

 Caps, oblong, pellucid, splitting into 6 valves. 



Small birds and poultry eat the seeds, and whole herb. The latter 

 may be boiled for the table, like Spinach. 



This plant is, in every character, notwithstanding the variable 

 number of the stamens, so truly a Stellaria, that we cannot but 

 wonder at its having been referred to Jlsine ; and still more, 

 that Linnaeus should, in his Fl. Lapp. n. 1 86, have confounded 

 it and the preceding with Cerastium aquaticum. 



3. S. holostea. Greater Stitchwort. 



Leaves lanceolate, finely serrated. Petals inversely heart- 

 shaped. Calyx without ribs. 



S. holostea. Linn.Sp.Pl.m3. Willd.v.2.7U. Fl.Br.474. Engl. 



Bot. V.8. t. 511. Curt. Lond./asc. 2. t. 30. Hook. Scot. 136. 



JF7. Dan. t. 698, bad. 

 Alsine n. 884. Hall. Hist. v. 1 . 388. 



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