78 KEY AND FLORA 
B 
Sepals more or less united. Petals with claws. Capsule several- 
many-seeded. 
(a) Calyx without bracts, its lobes long and leaf-like. 
Agrostemma, ITI 
(0) Calyx without bracts, lobes not leaf-like. Styles 3 or 4. 
Silene, V 
(c) Calyx without bracts, lobes not leaf-like. Styles 5 (rarely 4). 
; Lychnis, IV 
(d) Calyx with little bracts at the base. Styles 2. 
Dianthus, VI 
I. STELLARIA L. (ALSINE) 
Slender, usually smooth herbs. Flowers small, white, soli- 
tary, or in forking cymes. Sepals 5 (rarely 4). Petals 5 
(rarely 4), 2-cleft or -divided. Stamens 10 (rarely 8, 5, or 3), 
maturing in 2 sets. Styles 3 (rarely 4 or 5), opposite the same 
number of petals; ovary 1-celled, many-ovuled. Capsule short, 
splitting into as many valves as there are styles. 
1. S. longifolia Muhl. Lone-Leavep Strrcuwort. Stem slender, 
usually erect, 8-18 in. high, often sharply 4-angled. Leaves linear 
or nearly so, spreading. Flower clusters peduncled, many-flowered, 
the pedicels spreading. Petals 2-parted, at length longer than the 
calyx. Perennial in meadows and grassy thickets, especially N. 
2. S. graminea L. Smooth, weak, ascending. Stem sharply 
4-angled, 12-20 in. long. Leaves linear-lanceolate or broader, 
widest a little above the base, ciliate, acute, 3-11 in. long. Cyme 
loose, with slender, widely spreading pedicels. Flowers }—3 in. in 
diameter. Sepals and petals about equal in length, the petals cleft 
almost to the base. Seeds with many minute tubercles. Fields and 
roadsides, often among grass. Naturalized from Europe. 
3. S. media Cyrill. Common Cuickwerp. Stem prostrate, 6-18 
in. long, with a line or two of hairs along it. Leaves ovate, taper- 
pointed, the lower petioled, the upper sessile. Petals shorter than the 
sepals, sometimes wanting. An annual weed, naturalized from Europe, 
common in damp, shady places N. 
Il. CERASTIUM L. 
Annual or perennial. Stems diffuse, usually downy; leaves 
opposite. Flowers white, peduncled, in terminal, regularly 
