Thea BRET Sf ee BAL 
U37 
DIVISION TI. 
1. Common Water-Starwort. 
Stellaria vulgaris. 
The root is a great clufter of long and flender 
fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, green, _ flender, 
very weak, and a foot or two in length: they 
rife to the furface of the water ufually, as the 
moft common place of its growth is in fhallow 
ditches. 
The leaves grow in pairs all the way up the 
ftalks, but at the tops in clufters: thofe on the 
ftalks are longifh, narrow, and of a pale green: 
they have no footftalks: they are pointed at the 
ends, and undivided at the edges. 
The leaves on the top form themfelves into a 
kind of head: they are fmalleft in the centre, 
larger all the way outwards, and fpread in the 
manner of a ftar, whence the plant has its name. 
The flowers are fmall: they ftand at the joints 
of the ftalks, where the leaves alfo rife; and 
there ufually are two of them together: they are 
whitifh, and the two petals which compofe them 
are hollow, and converge together: there is a 
fingle yellow button to each, fupported on a 
long thread. 
The feed-veffel is rounded, flat, and marked 
with four lines on the furface. 
The feeds are numerous and fmall. 
It is common in our ditches, and flowers in May. 
C. Bauhine calls it Stellaria aquatica, . Others, 
Stellaria aquatica vulgaris. 
2. Blunt-leaved Water-Starwort. 
Stellaria repens foliis obtufis. 
_ The root is compofed of numerous very flen- 
der fibres. 
The ftalks are many and weak: they are round 
and jointed: they rife but a litole height in the 
water, where they are covered ; t when the 
plant grows in mud, as is common, with very 
little water, then they lie fpread every way upon 
the furface; and, in both cafes, wherever they 
touch they take root at the joints, 
D.1.V40 5.1.0, N: YP 
1. Alternate-flowered Water-Starwort. 
Stellaria floribus alternis. 
_ The root is compofed of many flender 
threads, of a whitifh colour, and very tender 
fubftance. ‘ 
The ftalks are numerous, round, and of a pale 
green. 7 
The keaves are long, narrow, and of a dead 
green, undivided at the edges,@#and fharp at the 
» points, 
i 
Nearer 
BR rel sit 
FOREIGN 
7 mre 
SORE: Cee s: 
The leaves are few, and of a faint green; 
they grow in ‘pairs, and have no footftalks; 
they are fhort, and rounded at the end: at the 
top of the ftalk there fland four, or more, in a 
little clufter, byt not difpofed with thar regularity 
we fee in thofe of the former {pecies. 
The flowers are fmall and white: they are 
placed in the bofoms of the leaves, and the petals 
of which they are compofed ftand wider than in 
the other. 
The feed-veffel is fquare, but flatted: the feeds 
are very numerous and minute, 
It is common in puddles and about the edges 
of fifh-ponds, and flowers in April. 
C. Bauhine calls it Lenticula paluftris bifolia 
frufiu tetragono, Dillenius, Stellaria minor et 
repens. 
3. Long leaved Water-Starwort. 
Stellaria longifolia. 
The root confifts of fibres, but they are 
not, as in the others, long and flender; they 
make a very thick head of fhort ones almoft ’ 
innumerable. ‘ 
The ftalks are numerous, weak, and a foot or 
more in length, 
The leaves ftand in pairs on the ftalks, and in 
a ftarry tuft at the top: thofe on the ftalks are 
Jong, narrow, and often curled at the edges, and 
fplit at the points: the others are fharp-pointed, 
and {pread upon the furface, in form of a ftar. 
The flowers are very fmall, and yellowith: 
each is compofed of two narrow petals, and in 
the centre there rifes a fhort filament with a yel- 
low button. 
The feed-veffel is rounded and flat: the feeds 
are very numerous and fmall. 
It is common in falt-water ditches, and fome- 
times in frefh. I have obferved it abundantly in 
the ditches on the ifle of Shipey. y 
It flowers in June. 
Ray calls it Stellaria aquatica foliis longis te- 
nuiffimis, 
Sy PER Colebrs: 
The flowers ftand alternately, and are com- 
pofed each of two flatted and fomewhat hooked 
petals, in the midft of which, rifes a fingle fila- 
ment with a large button. 
The feed-veffel is roundifh and flatted. 
It is common about the fhores of the Volea; 
and flowers in July. . : 
Juffieu calls it Corifpermum floribus lateralibus. 
Nothing is known of the virtues of thefe 
" plants. 
No GENUS 
