CAHYOPHYLLE.ffiI. 33 



Petals 5, bifid or emarginate. Stamens 10. Styles 5, rarely 4 or 3. 

 Capsule cylindric, often incurved, thin and translucent, 1-celled, oo -seeded, 

 dehiscent at apex by about 10 teeth. Seeds roundish-reniform. 



1. 0. visoostjm, L. Annual, soft pubescent and somewhat clammy, the 

 branches erect or ascending from a decumbent base, % — 1 ft. high: leaves 

 ovate, obovate, or oblong-spatulate, 3^ — 1 in. long: cymes in early state 

 rather dense: pedicels even in fruit only 2 lines long; the calyx as long, 

 the sepals acute: petals shorter than the calyx: capsule nearly straight, 

 much longer than the calyx. Common weed in early spring; corolla ex- 

 panding only in sunshine. — Native of Europe. Feb. — May. 



3. C. arvense, L. Perennial, cespitose, downy with reflexed hairs, the 

 inflorescence somewhat viscid: branches 4 — 8 in. high: leaves linear- 

 lanceolate, 4 — 10 lines long, acutish: cyme contracted, bearing about 3 

 flowers (sometimes 5; as often 1 only), the branches ascending, often 

 little exceeding the pedicel of the first flower; sepals ovate-oblong, 

 obtuse, scarious-margined, 1% — 2 lines long; the obcordate petals twice 

 as long: capsule little exceeding the calyx. — San Francisco, and in Marin 

 County. March — June. 



4. C. pilosuin, Ledeb. Perennial, erect, stout, more or less densely 

 pilose, the inflorescence glandular-viscid: leaves oblong-lanceolate, % — 1 

 in. long, 1—6 lines Broad, acute, almost sheathing at base: fl. few, large, 

 in a terminal leafless cyme: sepals 3 — 4 lines long, obtuse; petals longer: 

 capsule 6 — 10 lines long, the slender teeth at length circinate-revolute. — A 

 Siberian and Alaskan species, said to have been found on Point Eeyes. 



5. ALSIXE, Diosc. (Chickwebd). Low herbs with mostly quadran- 

 gular stems, no stipules, and small axillary and solitary, or terminal and 

 cymose white flowers. Flowers as in Cerastium, but styles usually 3 

 only, sometimes 2 or 4. Capsule globose or oblong, cleft below the 

 middle into twice as many valves as there are styles. 



1. A. media, Camerarius (1558). Weak, procumbent, rooting at the 

 lower joints; stems marked by a pubescent line: leave's ovate, % — % in. 

 long, on slender petioles, or the upper sessile:' floral bracts foliaceous; 

 pedicels slender, deflexed in fruit: calyx pubescent: stamens 3 — 10: cap- 

 sule oblong-ovate, 2 — 3 lines long, equalling or exceeding the calyx. — A 

 very common weed of shady places. Dec. — June. 



2. A. nilens (Nutt). Stems almost capillary, diffuse, sparingly leafy, 

 3—6 in. high, the whole plant very glabrous and shining, or with a slight 

 pubescence below: leaves lanceolate, )<t — % in. long, acute, the lower 

 short-petiolate : fl. erect, on short pedicels, in a very lax bractless cyme: 

 sepals 3-nerved, narrow, acuminate, 2 lines long: petals deeply bifid, only 

 half as long, sometimes 0; capsule oblong, shorter than the calyx. — Very 

 common, yet so delicate and inconspicuous as to be easily overlooked. 



