164 CARYOPHYLLACE^. 



B, Fruit a utricle or nutlet. 



Sepals distinct or slightly united at base; petals none or represented by mere 

 bristle-like organs; stipules present; very small or prostrate herbs. 



Annual; stipules And flowers minute 12. Herniaria. 



Perennial; stipules conspicuous, silvery-scarlous. 

 Leaves subulate; sepals very unequal, armed with a divergent spine . . . 



13. Pentac^na. 

 Leaves oblanceolate; sepals equal, cuspidate . .... 14. Paronychia. 



1. VACCARIA Medic. 



Glabrous glaucous annual with sessile exstipulate leaves and showy 

 red flowers in a broad loose flat-topped corymb. Calyx synsepalous, 

 ovate, with 5 prominent angles. Petals 5, clawed, not appendaged. 

 Stamens 10. Styles 2. Ovary 1-celled but with rudimentary parti- 

 tions at base. Capsule ovate, dehiscent at apex by 4 short teeth. 

 (From the Latin vacoa, cow, some species used for fodder.) 



1. V. vulgaris Host. Cow Herb. Two to 3 ft. high, dichoto- 

 mously branching above but strictly erect; leaves ovate, 3 or 4 in. 

 long with cordate-clasping base; flowers 7 to 9 lines long; petals red, 

 the blade obcordate and claw linear. 



European grainfield weed introduced into California: Livermore; 

 Berkeley; Scott Kiver Valley in northern California. 



2. SILENE L. Catch-flt. Campion. 

 Annual or perennial herbs, more or less viscid and mostly large- 

 flowered. Calyx tubular or inflated, 5-toothed. Petals 5, with long 

 claws; summit of the claw commonly furnished with an entire or 

 cleft scale or appendage, sometimes called a crown; blades spreading, 

 entire or more commonly cleft or laciniate. Stamens 10. Styles 3, 

 rarely 4. Capsule opening by 3 or 6 teeth at apex. (Name derived 

 from sialon, saliva, the stems and other parts viscid.) 



Annuals. 



Flowers in cymes with unequal branches; pubescent throughout 



1. S. muUinervia. 

 Flowers in a compound cyme; middle of each of the upper internodes with a 



viscid belt, otherwise glabrous 2. S. antirrfdna. 



Flowers in a one-sided raceme; stems hirsute S. S. GalUca. 



Perennials. 

 Flowers large, 1 in. broad or more, scarlet; blade of petals deeply cleft, the 



segments bifid with entire or toothed lobes 4. S. Califomiea. 



Flowers smaller, rose-color; blade of petals bifid to the middle, the lobes entire 

 or bearing a very small lateral tooth 5. S. verecunda. 



1. S. multinervia Wats. Erect, about 1 ft. high; pubescent 

 throughout, viscid-glandular above; leaves linear-oblong; inflores- 

 cence cymose with unequal branches; calyx ovate in fruit, about 20- 

 ribbed, the ribs equally prominent; petals small, purplish, without 

 appendages, not exceeding the subulate spreading calyx-teeth. 



Said to be an introduced plant; listed as an exotic by Californian 

 authors under the name of Silene conoidea, but not S. conoidea of L. 

 aco. to Dr. B. L. Robinson, the American authority on this family. 

 Behavior plainly that of an immigrant but its origin unknown. Mt. 

 Tamalpais, Brandegee. Frequent in Southern California. 



