ALSINACEAE. 127 



Family 51. ALSINACEAE Wahl. Chickweed Family. 



Stipules wanting. 



Petals 2-cleft or 2-parted. 



Capsule short ovate or oblong; styles usually 3. i. Alsine. 



Capsule long, cylindric and often curved ; styles usually 5. 2. Cerastium. 



Petals entire or merely notched. 



Styles as many as the sepals and alternate with them. 3. Sagina. 



Styles fewer than the sepals or if occasionally of the same number opposite 

 them. 

 Seeds with a basal membranous appendage (strophiole) at the hylum. 



4. MOEHRINGIA. 



Seeds not strophiolate. 



Capsules opening by twice as many valves as the styles. 5. Arenaria. 



Capsules opening by as many valves as the styles. 6. Alsinopsis. 



Stipules present. 7. Tissa. 



I. ALSINE L. Starwort. Chick-weed, Stitchwort. 



Lower leaves ovate, abruptly contracted into a distinct petiole. 



1. A, media. 

 Leaves all sessile or subsessile. 



Plant not at all viscid. 



Upper bracts at least scarious. 



Petals minute or none ; branches of the inflorescence at last reflexed. 



2. A. baicalensis. 

 Petals equalling or exceeding the sepals ; branches of the inflorescence 



ascending. 

 Leaves broadest about the middle, narrowed at the base. 



3. A. longifolia. 

 Leaves broadest near the base. 



Leaves narrowly linear-lanceolate, light green ; flowers usually many. 



4. A. longipes. 

 Leaves lanceolate, bluish green ; flowers few, often solitary. 



5. A. laeta. 

 None of the bracts scarious. 



Leaves linear to lanceolate, more than four times as long as broad. 

 Petals equalling or exceeding the sepals. 



Plant low, less than i dm. high, bluish green. 5. A. laeta. 



Plant tall, light green ; stem over i dm. long. 6. A. borealis. 



Petals much shorter than the sepals or none. 7. A. crassifolia. 

 Leaves ovate-lanceolate, ovate or oval, less than four times as long as broad. 

 Leaves thin. 



Stem glabrous or nearly so ; sepals obtuse. 8. A. obtusa. 



Stem distinctly pubescent; sepals acutish. 9. A. calycantha. 



Leaves very thick and fleshy. 10. A. polygonoides. 



Plant more or less viscid, especially the upper portion. 11. A. Jame^ana. 



1. Alsine media L. (Stellaria media Cyr.) Introduced around dwellings. 

 Native of Europe and Asia. — Ft. Collins. 



2. Alsine baicalensis Coville. (Stellaria umhellata Turcz.) Along moun- 

 tain streams from Mont, to Ore., Colo, and Calif. — Alt. 8000-14,000 ft. — 

 Cameron Pass; Red Mountain; Seven Lakes; Buffalo Pass; Beaver Creek; 

 Ouray; Ruby; West Spanish Peak; Grayback mining camps; Silver Plume; 

 near Pagosa Peak; Middle Park; Mt. Hesperus; Trapper's Lake; Pike's 

 Peak; Gray's Peak; Ironton; Argentine Pass; northeast of Boreas; Eldora 

 to Baltimore; summit of North Park Range, Larimer Co. 



