228 XVIII. CAHYOPHYLLE^. (Edgewortli & Hook, f.) [.Cerastium. 



Perennial. Stems very slender, flaccid, 1-2 ft. Leaves I-I4 in^, membranous, not 

 'margined, ciliate, obscurely petioled. Flowers few, in terminal dioliotomous cymes ; 

 pedicels diyaricate, tomentose. Sepals |- in., oblong lanceolate, acute, margins narrowly 

 scarious. Capsules rather longer tban the sepals.=— There is a specimen marked as 

 Mauritian in Herb. Ben th., but I suspect it is Indian; it has, however, rather longer 

 petals. 



Sect. III. Orthodon. Styles 5. -Valves of the capsule straight or 

 slightly spreading ; margins revolute or recurved. 



4. C. vulg'atum, Linn. ; annual or perennial, tomentose or hairy, glan- 

 dular above, lower leaves spathulate, upper oblong ovate or lanceolate ob- 

 tuse or acute, petals equalling the calyx, rarely or larger, capsules much 

 exceeding the calyx often curved Wight <fc Arn. Prodr. 43. 



Throughout the temperate and subalpine regions of India and Cetlon, ascending to 

 15,000 ft. in Sikkim and Western Tibet. — Disteib. Temperate N. Europe arid Asia ; 

 introduced into various countiies. 



Stems 6-12 in., erect or suberect, simple or branched; stout or slender. Cymes 

 various, few or many-flowered, open or crowded or subcapitate or subumbeliate. 

 Flowers ^^ in. diam^ sometimes apetalous or 5-androus. Oapsule very variable in 

 length, and seeds in amount of granulation or tuberculation. 



Vae. 1. glomerata, Thuillieri annual, pubescence dense spreading, leaves obtuse,^ 

 cymes at first subcapitate, fruiting pedicels suberect shorter than the sepals, bracts all 

 herbaceous, sepals acute densely hairy, margins narrowly membranous. 



Var. 2. trivialis, Link ; annual or perennial, cymes usually open, leaves usually 

 lanceolate or obovate-lanceolate acute, pubescence shorter less spreading, bracts all 

 herbaceous, sepalsjanceolate, margin narrowly membranous. 



■ Vak. 3. grandijlora, Don Prodr. 216 (sp.) ; annual, flaccid, stems 6-10 in., lower 

 leaves obovate-spathulate, upper oblong, cymes open, bracts herbaceous, pedicels slender, 

 petals twice as long as the calyx. — C. napalense, WaM. Cat. 628. Temperate Himalaya, 

 alt. 6-10,000 ft. 



? Vak. 4. tibetica; dwarf, densely tufted, leaves oblong or elliptic, cymes few- 

 flowered, bracts all herbaceous, flowers as in var. 3. grandijlora. — Sassar pass, alt. 

 16-17,000 ft., T. Thomson; Ladak, Stewart. Perhaps a new species, but the specimens 

 are very few. 



? Vae. 5. memhranacea, Jacq. mss. (sp.) : stem slender erect, leaves oblong-lanceo- 

 late acute, cymes few-flowered, bracts with broad scarious edges, pedicels slender, peials 

 larger than tlie broadly scarious-edged coloured sepals. — Kunawar, between Hookio- 

 ghat and Doubling, Jacquemont. — Perhaps a different species or a small state of the 

 following, but we have only 2 stems. 



5. C. Thomsoni, Haoh. f. ; clothed with spreading glandular hairs, 

 stems slender erect, leaves all linear-oblong subacute cymes few-flowered, 

 bracts with narrow scarious edges, pedicels slender, flowers large, sepals 

 oblong-lanceolate subacute coloured below the scarious tips, much smaller 

 than the broadly-obovate petals. 



- Temperate Westeen Himalaya; Rishtwar, alt. ,11-12,000 ft., T. Thomson; 

 Kumaon, alt. 10,000 ft., Strach. & Wint. ; Lahul, JaeschJce. 



We were at first disposed to regard this as the C. grandiflorum, Don, because of the 

 size of the flower ; but that plant having broadly obovate lower leaves is no doubt 

 Wallich's O. napalense (a var. of triviale), which has further much smaller flowers and 

 a very different habit from this. Stems 6-12 in., quite erect, rather slender, copiously 

 hairy, branched at the very base only. Leaves |-1J in., straight, the very lowest soon 

 withering and more obovate. Cymes subumbeliate. Flowers ^-J in. diam., with broad 

 petals. Fruit unknown. 



