56 VI. CAETOPHTLLEAE. [Cerastium. 



*L. Githago, Scop., Fl. Cam. ed. 2, i. 310. An erect annual, lfft.-2ft. high, 

 clothed with soft, appressed hairs. Leaves linear-lanceolate. Calyx coriaceous, 

 silky, strongly ribbed; segments leafy, exceeding the petals. Petals erownless, 

 entire, pale-purple. 



NORTH Island : in cornfields and cultivated land, Auckland. Corn-cockle. Nov., Deo. 

 Europe. 



* CERASTIUM, Linn. 

 Sepals 5, rarely 4. Petals 5 or 4, usually 2-lobed or cleft, rarely entire or 0. 

 Stamens 10 or 5. Ovary 1-celled. Styles 5 or 4. Capsule 1-celled, usually elongated, 

 opening at the apex by twice as many teeth as there are sepals. Seeds compressed. 

 Pubescent or glandulous or rarely glabrous herbs, with small leaves. Flowers white, 

 in terminal dichotomous cymes. 

 Annual. Leaves ovate. Sepals acute . . . . . . . . . . * C. glomeratum. 



Annual. Leaves oblong-lanoeolate. Sepals subacute or obtuse . . .." C. triviale. 



Perennial. Petals greatly exceeding the calyx . . . . . . .. * G. arvense. 



* C. glomeratum, Thuill., Fl. Par. ed. 2, 226. Annual. Glandular-hairy, 

 suberect or decumbent. Leaves ovate. Cymes subcapitate at first. Sepals acute ; 

 margins and tips membranous, glabrous. Petals not exceeding the calyx, 2-fid. 

 Capsule curved, twice as long as the calyx. Fruiting pedicels equalling or shorter 

 than the calyx. 



NORTH Cape to STEWART Island ; AUCKLAND Islands : naturalised in fields and waste 

 places, &o. Mouse-ear chickweed. Sept. to April. South Europe. 



*C. triviale, Link., Enum. Hort. Berol. i. 433. Annual. Stems decumbent at 

 the base. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, hairy, but with few glands. Cymes lax. Sepals 

 obtuse or subacute, hairy throughout ; margins membranous. Petals equalling the 

 calyx, 2-fid. Capsule twice as long as the calyx. Fruiting pedicel equalling or 

 exceeding the calyx. 



NORTH Cape to STEWART Island ; AUCKLAND Islands ; MACQUARIE Island : natural- 

 ised. Larger mouse-ear. Oct. to April. Europe. 



The teeth of the capsule are often truncate, when it is C. amblyodontum, Golenso in Trans. 

 N.Z.I, xxvii (1894) 334. G. truncatulum, Col. I.e. xxv. (1892) 327 appears to be the same, but I have 

 not seen specimens of either. 



*C. arvense, L., Sp. PL 438. Perennial, tufted, erect or ascending, pubes- 

 cent, downy or glabrate, 3in.-6in. high. Leaves linear-lanceolate. Cymes many- 

 flowered; bracts with membranous margins. Sepals subacute or obtuse, margins 

 and tips membranous. Petals obcordate, greatly exceeding the sepals. Capsule 

 slightly longer than the calyx. Seeds tubercled. 



SOUTH Island : naturalised on Swampy Hill, Dunedin. Petrie I Dec, Jan. Europe. 



2. STELLARIA, Linn. 



Sepals 4 or 5, usually spreading. Petals 4-5, 2-fid, rarely 0. Stamens 



usually 8 or 10, hypogynous. Styles 3, rarely 4 or 5. Capsule globose or 



ovoid, 1-celled, dehiscing to below the middle by twice as many valves as there 



are styles. Seeds few or many, often muricate. _^ Annual or perennial herbs 



usually of diffuse habit and solitary or cymose inflorescence. 



Species, 75. Chiefly in the temperate and cold regions of both hemispheres. The indigenous 

 species are endemic, but the naturalised species are of wide distribution. 



Stems capillary, creeping. Leaves suborbicular, acute .. .. ..1. S.parviflora 



Creeping. Leaves ovate, obovate, or linear-lanceolate, acute . . . . . . 2. S. decipiens. 



Minute. Leaves ovate, acute, soft. Flowers geminate . . . . 3. S. minuta. 



Stem and branches with an interrupted hairy line . . . . . . .. * S. media. 



