78 KEY AND FLORA 



B 



Sepals more or less united. Petals with claws. Capsule several- 

 many-seeded. 



(a) Calyx without bracts, its lobes long and leaf -like. 



Agrostemma, III 



(b) Calyx without bracts, lobes not leaf -like. Styles 3 or 4. 



Silene, V 



(c) Calyx without bracts, lobes not leaf -like. Styles 5 (rarely 4). 



Lychnis, IV 



(d) Calyx with little bracts at the base. Styles 2. 



Dianthus, VI 

 I. STELLARIA L. (ALSINE) 



Slender, usually smooth herbs. Flowers small, white, soli- 

 tary, or in forking cymes. Sepals 5 (rarely 4). Petals 5 

 (rarely 4), 2-cleft or -divided. Stamens 10 (rarely 8, 5, or 3), 

 maturing in 2 sets. Styles 3 (rarely 4 or 5), opposite the same 

 number of petals ; ovary 1-celled, many-ovuled. Capsule short, 

 splitting into as many valves as there are styles. 



1. S. longifolia Muhl. Long-Leaved Stitchwoet. Stem slender, 

 usually erect, 8-18 in. high, often sharply 4-angled. Leaves linear 

 or nearly so, spreading. Flower clusters peduncled, many-flowered, 

 the pedicels spreading. Petals 2-parted, at length longer than the 

 calyx. Perennial in meadows and grassy thickets, especially N. 



2. S. graminea L. Smooth, weak, ascending. Stem sharply 

 4-angled, 12-20 in. long. Leaves linear-lanceolate or broader, 

 widest a little above the base, ciliate, acute, J-l| in. long. Cyme 

 loose, with slender, widely spreading pedicels. Flowers |-| in. in 

 diameter. Sepals and petals about equal in length, the petals cleft 

 almost to the base. Seeds with many minute tubercles. Fields and 

 roadsides, often among grass. Naturalized from Europe. 



3. S. media Cyrill. Common Chickweed. Stem prostrate, 6-18 

 in. long, with a line or two of hairs along it. Leaves ovate, taper- 

 pointed, the lower petioled, the upper sessile. Petals shorter than the 

 sepals, sometimes wanting. An annual weed, naturalized from Europe, 

 common in damp, shady places N. 



n. CERASTIUM L. 



Annual or perennial. Stems diffuse, usually downy ; leaves 

 opposite. Flowers white, peduncled, in terminal, regularly 



