38 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



II. Short-stalked Chickweed 



Cerastium nutans. — Family, Pink. Color, white. Leaves, 

 lance-shaped to oblong. Time, May to July. 



Sepals and petals, 5, the latter divided. '&ma\\ Jlowers, borne 

 on long peduncles. The plant sends up straight, slender stems, 

 much branched, 18 inches high, or less. The large pods curve 

 upward at the apex. 



12. Marsh St. John's-wort 



Elbdes campanulata. — Family, St. John's-wort. Color, pink. 

 Leaves, opposite, dotted, broad, blunt, not tapering at either 

 end, almost clasping around the stem, pale green, entire. Time, 

 July, August. 



Sepals zx\d petals, 5. Stamens, 9, every 3 stamens separated 

 by yellow glands. 



A common plant, found in cranberry bogs and swamps, the 

 stem simple or profusely branching, about a foot high. 



The pretty pink flowers, less than half an inch broad, grow often 

 singly or in pairs, or sometimes in clusters in the leaf-axils or ter- 

 minating the branch. They quickly fade, and deep-red pods take 

 their place. Late in the season the stems and leaves turn a dark 

 crimson. 



' Hypericum mOti/um is a plant of the marshes, with opposite, 

 spreading, 5 - nerved leaves ; few small, yellow blossoms on 

 leafy branches ; weak in stem, 6 to 20 inches high. 



14. Marsh-mallow 



Althttea officinalis (to cure, in allusion to healing proper- 

 ties). — Family, Mallow. Color, pale rose. Leaves, alternate, 

 broad, petioled, ovate or heart-shaped, palmately veined, cov- 

 ered with velvety down. Time, August and September. Salt 

 marshes. 



