14 



CARYOPHYLLACEAE 



Caryophyllales Pink Order 



Caryophyllaceae — Pink Family 

 Herbs with opposite entire leaves; sepals 4-5, petals 4-5, rarely none, stamens 4-10, ovary 1- 

 celled, rarely 3-5-celled ; flower syncarpons, apopetalous, hypogynous, regular. 



I. Sepals united 



1. Styles 2 Dianthus 



2. Styles 3 Silene 



3. Styles 4-5 Lychnis 



II. Sepals separate 



1. Petals entire Mneliringia 



2. Petals deeply 2-cleft or parted 



a. Pod ovoid to oblong, opening by valves Alsine 



b. Pod cylindric, opening by teeth Cerastium 



Plate 5: A, Dianthus barbatus ; B, Silene antirrhina ; C, Lychnis alba; D, Alsine media; E, 

 Cerastium nutans ; F, Claytonia virginica ; G, Portulaca grandiflora ; H, Allionia nycta- 

 ginea ; I, Populus deltoides, 1, flower, 2, fruit ; J, Salix fluviatilis, 1, flower, 2, fruit. 



D. barbatus 



Dianthus — Pink 



(Gr. dio-, of Jupiter, anthos, flower) 

 PI. 5, fig. A 

 Petals toothed ; flowers in a flat-topped cluster 



Silene — Catchfly 



(Gr. Seilenos, a companion of Bacchus) 

 PI. 5, fig. B 



1. Stem sticky about the nodes; flowers pink; day-flowering . S. antirrhina 



2. Stem with sticky hairs all over ; flowers white ; night-flowering 5". noctiflora 



Lychnis — Ragged Robin 



(Gr. lychnos, lamp, from the use of one species for wicking) 

 PI. 5, fig. C 



1. Flowers white, dioecious ; petals 1-lobed 



2. Flowers red ; petals 4-lobed 



Moeliringia — Sandwi >rt 



(Named for Moehring, a German naturalist) 

 Leaves oval or oblong ; flowers single or few in a cluster, white 



Alsine — Starwort 



(Gr. alsine, a kind of chickweed) 

 PI. 5, fig. D 



1. Leaves broad, ovate or oval 



2. Leaves narrow, linear 



Cerastium — Chickweed 



(Gr. keration, a little horn, from the shape of the capsule) 

 PI. 5, fig. E 



1. Petals longer than the sepals 



a. Flowers 4-5 mm. wide C. longipeduncule 



b. Flowers 8-10 mm. wide C.arvense 



2. Petals equalling or shorter than the sepals 



a. Pedicels not longer than the calyx C. viscosum 



b. Pedicels at last much longer than the calyx C. imlgdtum 



L. alba 



L. flos-cuculi 



M. lateriflora 



A. media 



A. longifolia 



