94 CARYOPHTLLACE^. (piNK FAMILY.) 



transposed by LinnsBus, and by continental botanists ever since.) — Stamens 

 often 5. — The var. '! semidecAndrum, which has more lengthened fruit-bearing 

 pedicels, is here hardly met with. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. C. visc6suM, L. (Larger M.) Perennial; stems clanMny-hairy, 

 spreading (6'- 15' long) ; leaves oblong; upper bracts scarions-margined ; flowers 

 at first clustered, the fruiting pedicels longer, the earlier ones mostly much longer 

 than the obtuse sepals ; petals equalling the calyx. — Fields and copses : common, 

 perhaps indigenous to the country. May- July. (Nat, from Eu.) 



3. C. niltans, Kaf. Annual, very clammy -pubescent ; stems erect, slen- 

 der, grooved, diSusely branched (6' -20' high); cyme loose and open, many' 

 flowered; leaves obUing4anceolate, acute, the lowest spatulate ;• peduncles mostly 

 elongated ; petals longer than the calyx ; pods nodding on the stalks, curved up- 

 wards, thrice the length of the calyx. — Moist places, Vermont to Minnesota and 

 southward. May -July. — Var. bhachtpodum, Engelm., W. Illinois and 

 southwestward, has pedicels shorter than the pods. 



4. C. oblongifdlium, Torr. Perennial; stems ascending, villous (6'- 

 12' high), many -flowered ; leaves oblong-lanceolate and ovate; peduncles clammy- 

 hairy; petals (2-lobed) and ripe pods about twice the length of the calyx. — Rocky 

 places. New York to N. Virginia and Illinois: rare. May -July. — Stouter 

 and larger flowered than the following species. 



5. C. arvtose, L. (Field Chickweed.) Perennial; stems ascending 

 or erect, tufted, downy, slender (4'-8' high), naked and few -several-flowered at 

 the summit ; leaves linear ; petals obcordate, more than twice the length of the 

 calyx ; pods scarcely longer than the calyx. Dry or rocky places. New England 

 to Wisconsin and northward. May -July. (Eu.) 



§ 2. MCENCHINA, Ehrhart. Pelals entire or merely retuse : parts of the flower 

 commonly in fours : pod ovate, not longer than the calyx. 



6. C. QUATEBNiiLLUM, Ecnzl. Smooth and glaucous annual ; stem simple, 

 erect (2' -4' high), 1-2-flowered; leaves lanceolate, acute; petals not exceed- 

 ing the calyx ; stamens 4. (Sagina erecta, L. Mcenchia quaterneUa, Ehrh.) 



— Near Baltimore, in dry ground. (Adv. from Eu.) 



10. SAGINA, L. Pbarlwort. 



Sepals 4 or 5. Petals 4 or 5, undivided, or often none. Stamens as many 

 as the sepals, rarely twice their number. Styles as many as the sepals and al- 

 ternate with them. Pod many-seeded, 4-5-valved to the base; valves opposite! 

 the sepals. — Little, matted herbs, with thread-like or awl-shaped leaves, no 

 stipules, and small flowers terminating the stems or branches ; in summer. 

 (Name from sagina, fattening; of dubious application.) 



* Parts of the flower in fours, rarely with some few inflves. 



1 . S. proctinibens, L. Perennial, depressed or spreading on the ground, 

 glabrous ; leaves linear-thread-shaped ; apex of the peduncle often hooked soon 

 after flowering ; petals shorter than the broadly ovate obtuse sepals, sometimes none. 



— Springy places and damp rocks, coast of Maine to Pennsylvania. (Eu.) 



2. S. ap^tala, L. Annual, erect, with more slender leaves, narrower sepals, 

 and petals none err obsolete. — Dry soil. New York and Pennsylvania to Illinois ; 

 scarce, seemingly native? (Eu.) 



