CARYOPHYLLACEJ] 41 



1. STELLARIA. Chickwbed. 



Sepals 4 or 5; petals when present white, deeply 2-cleft so as 

 frequently to look like 10 petals; stamens not more than 10; styles 

 3. Low annual or perennial plants with white star-shaped flowers. 



1. S. borealis, Bigel. 



Stems weak, reclining, many times forked, and ending in leafy cymes of 

 small and inconspicuous flowers. Damp shady places, Man.-Alta. 



2. S. 16ngipes, Goldie. 



Erect or nearly so, 4-10 in. high, glabrous; leaves linear to lanceolate, 

 gradually narrowing from near the base, shining; inflorescence terminal'; 

 pod ovoid, protruding beyond the sepals, dark, shining. Dry soil, Man.- 

 Alta. 



3. S. longiffilia, Muhl. Long-leaved Stitchwort. 

 Stem erect, weak, generally roughened on the angles, 



6-15 in. high; leaves linear, tapered at both ends; 

 inflorescence a leafy cyme; fruit pale. Damp grassy 

 places, Man.-Alta., not common in our range. 



- 4. S. media, (L.) Cyrill. Common Chickweed. 

 Low, annual, or sometimes living over winter; stem 

 hairy in lines; leaves ovate, some on hairy petioles; 

 petals 2-cleft and shorter than the calyx. An in- 

 troduced weed becoming common on neglected lawns ^iq 36 Stellaria 



and other waste places, where it forms a close mat on media 



the ground, smothering out the grass. 



2. CERASTIUM. Mouse-ear Chickweed. 



Sepals 5 (4 in one species) ; petals the same number as the 

 sepals, notched at the apex but not deeply cleft; styles as many as 

 the sepals and opposite to them; pod 1-celled. 



1. C. arvense, L. Field Chickweed. 



Flowering stems erect or nearly so and almost destitute of leaves; the 

 other stems ascending, leafy; leaves linear to lanceolate, usually hairy; 

 petals much longer than the calyx. Dry places, common, Man.-Alta. 



2. C. yulgltum, L. Common Moose-ear Chickweed. 



Stem low, spreading, densely viscid-pubescent ; leaves ovate to spatulate ; 

 flowers clustered, and pedicels longer than the calyx. An introduced door- 

 yard weed, but not yet very common in the West. 



X^ 



