CARYOPHYLLACE^. (piNK FAMILY.) 59 



ovoid, opening by ftvice as many valves as styles, several -many-seeded. Seeds 

 naked. — Flowers (wliite) terminal, or appearing lateral by the prolongation of 

 the stem from the upper axils. (Name from stelia, a star, in allusion to tlie 

 8tar-shaped flowers.) 



# Stamens usually fewer than 10 : leaves broad. 



1. S. MiniA, Smith. (Common Chickweed.) Stems spreading, marked 

 with an alternate pubescent line ; leaves ovate, the lower on hairy petioles ; petals 

 2-parted, shorter than tlie calyx; stamens 3-10. ® (2) — Fields and ar'jund 

 dwellings, everywhere. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. S. pftbera, Michx. (Gkeat Chickweed.) Stems spreadiug, 

 mai-ked with 2 opposite hairy lines ; leaves all sessile, oblong or ovate (2' long I , 

 petals deeply 2-cleft, larger than the calyx, IJ. — Shaded rocks, Pcnn. to Kentucky, 

 and southward. May. 



* * Stamens mostly 10 : manifestly perlgynous: perennial: leaves narrow, sessile: 



plants glabrous throughout. 



'■^ Scaly-bracted : petals 2-parted, eqtialling or surpassing the calyx. 



3. S. long^folia, Muhl. (Stitchwokt.) Stem branching above; 

 weak, often Avith rough angles (8'- 18' liigh) ; leaves linear, acuiish at both ends,, 

 spreading ; cymes naked and at length lateral, ptduncled, mauy-flowered, the sleu' 

 der pedicels spreading ; petals 2-parted, soon longer tlian the calyx ; seeds smooth. 

 — Grassy places, common, especially northward. June, July. (Eu.) 



4. S. Idngfipcs, Goldie. (Long-stalkkd Stitchwokt.) Shining or 

 somewhat glaucous, very smooth ; leaves ascending, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 

 acute, broadest at the base, rather rigid ; cyme terminal, few-floworcd, the long 

 pedicels strictly erect ; petals longer than the calyx ; seeds smooth. — Maine to 

 Wisconsin, rare : common fartlier north. (Eu.) 



5. S. uliginosa, Mun-. (Swamp Stitchwobt.) Stems weak^ de- 

 cumbent or diffuse, at length prolonged, leaving the naked and usually sessile 

 cymes lateral ; leaves lanceolate or oblong, veiny ; petals and ripe pods as hng as the 

 calyx; seeds roughened. (S. aquatica, Pottich, ^-c.) — Swamps and rills, Phila 

 delphia and Westchester, Pennsylvania (Darlington, &C.J ; and northward w 

 British America. (Eu.) 



■*- ■<- Leafy-bracted, the flowers in the forks of the stem or of leafy branches, even 

 the latest with foliaceous bracts ; petals 2-parted, small, or often none ; stales 3-4 

 pod longer than the calyx. 



6. S. CraSSifdliil, Ehrhart. Stems diffuse or erect, flaccid ; leaves rather 

 fleshy, valuing from linear-lanceolate to oblong ; petals longer than the calyx, or 

 wanting ; seeds rugose-roughened. — An apetalous 4 - 6-androu3 state is Sagina 

 fontinalis, Shml ^ Piter. Cliffs of Kentucky River and Elkhorn Creek, fonn- 

 ing broad mats in springy places. Short. April, May. — Also in British Amer- 

 ica. (Eu.) 



7. S. Itorealis, Bigelow. (Northern Stitchwokt.) Stems erect or 

 spreading, flaccid, many times forked, at length resolved into a leafy cymo ; 

 leaves varying from broadly lanceolate to ovate-oblong ; petals 2-5, shorter than 

 the calyx, or oftener none ; sepals acate ; styles usually 4 ; seeds smooth. — Shaded 



