PINK FAJIILY 83 



flowering Stems, especially in bushy places, seem to have made an 

 unusually rapid growth. — Fl. April — June. Perennial. 



5. S. pai'iistris (Glaucous Marsh Stitchwort). — Glabrous, 

 glaucous; stem slender, erect, 4-angled, 6 — 12 in. high; kavci 

 sessile, narrow, tapering, entire ; //otccrs few, in a loose cyme, 

 \ — J in. across ; hi-acti and scpah with membranous margins ; 

 petals very deeply 2-clcft, much longer than the 3-veined sepals. — 

 Marshy places : not common. — Fl. May — August. Perennial. 



6. S. grain'inca (Lesser Stitchwort). — Glabrous, not glaucous : 

 stall straggling, i — 3 feet high, 4-aiigled ;• leaves sessile, very 

 narrow, acute, ciliate ; /lor^'ers smaller than in the last two species, 

 in loose cymes : bracts membranous ; petals very deeply cleft, 

 scarcely longer than the 3-veined sepals. — Dry heathv places ; 

 common. — Fl. iNIay — August. Perennial. 



7. S. ulighwsa (Bog Stitchwort). — Slender, straggling or erect, 

 3 — iS in. high ; stem 4-angled, glabrous ; leaves broadly lanceolate, 

 with a stiff tip, smooth, sometimes ciliate ; ftoivers few, \ in. across, 

 in loose cymes : petals deeply 2-cleft, shorter than the 3-veined 

 sepals.- Boggy places : common. — Fl. ^lay, June. Perennial. 



12. MvosoTON (Great Chickweed).- — A 'Straggling perennial 

 herbaceous plant, resembling Stella >-la nemonim, covered with 

 glandular hairs, with ovate leaves ; plowers in the forks of the 

 stem; sepals 5: petals 5, bifid, longer than the sepals; 

 stamens 10, styles 5 ; capsule with 5 bifid valves, many-seeded. 

 (Name from the Greek, meaning mouse-ear.) 



I. ^P. aqiidticiim (Great Chickweed). — A much-branched, strag- 

 gling plant; stem angular, brittle, i — 3 feet long, co\ered with 

 glandular hairs ; leaves ovate-cordate, acute, ciliate, the lower ones 

 stalked ; flowers solitary in the angles of the'Stems. — \\<fi places, 

 but not general. — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



13. Cer.astium (Mouse-ear Chickweed). — Pubescent, or rarely 

 glabrous, herbs, \i\\\i& flowers in terminal dichasial c\mes; sepals 5; 

 petals as many, bifid ; stamens 10, sometimes 5 or 4 ; styles usually 

 3 or 5 ; ovules many; capsules tubular, often incurved, 10-toothed. 

 (Name from the Greek keras, a horn, from the, shape of the capsule 

 in some species) 



^Capsule tiearlv stralflit. Annual 



I. C. tetrdndrum (Four-stamened JMouse-ear Chickweed). — 

 Hairy and viscid, 4 — 12 in, high; stent forl^ing from the base; 

 leaves oval or oblong ; bracts broad, oval, ileafy ; flowers \ in. 

 across ; sepals acummate with narrow membranous margins .; 



