PINK FAMILY. 153 



tually deciduous from it; corolla % to l\ f > in. in diameter; blade of petals 

 obovate, black-dotted toward the claw. 



Occasional grain-field weed, naturalized from Europe, first reported from 

 Berkeley in 1891. Since thou more widely spread, but not yet common: 

 College City, Alice King; St. Helena, Mrs. 1). 0. Hunt, 1908; Sutter Co., 

 J. A. Wilkinson, 1908. 



4. CERASTIUM L. Mouse-ear Chickweed. 

 Pubescent herbs with white flowers. Cymes dichotomous with herbaceous 

 or scarious bracts. Sepals 5, distinct. Petals as many, retuse or bifid. Sta- 

 mens 10 or 5. Styles 5. Capsule elongated, cylindric, often curved, usually 

 exceeding the calyx, dehiscent at apex by 10 teeth, these erect or spreading. 

 Seeds rough, more or less flattened. (Greek keras, a horn, in allusion to the 

 elongated curved capsules.) 



Annual; petals about equaling the sepals 1. C. vise o sum. 



Perennial; petals about twice as long as sepals 2. C. arvense. 



1. C. viscosum L. Mouse-ear Chickweed. Erect, 3 to 4 in. high, pilose- 

 hirsute and somewhat glandular, especially ou the calyx; leaves ovate to ellip- 

 tic-oblong, sessile, slightly connate, 7 to 12 lines long; pedicels mostly shorter 

 than the flowers; petals equaling or distinctly shorter than the sepals, oblong, 

 bifid at apex, 2 lines long; stamens 10, one or more with reduced or abortive 

 anthers, or sometimes only 5 with anthers, the other 5 represented by mere 

 scale-like filaments; capsule tubular, the slightly curved apex contracted, much 

 exceeding the calyx, 3% lines long; seeds numerous, minutely muriculate. 



Common in fields and by roadsides. ALar.-Apr. Naturalized from Europe. 



2. C. arvense L. Field Chickweed. Pubescent throughout; stems sev- 

 eral from a decumbent base, very leafy at base, nearly naked above, 5 to 9 

 in. long; leaves linear, acute, the upper 1 to l 1 /^ in. long, the lowermost often 

 but half as long; cyme contracted, bearing 1 to 5 flowers; sepals I 1 /* to 2% 

 Ijnes long, scarious-margined ; petals usually twice as long as the calyx, obcor- 

 date, deeply notched; capsule scarcely exceeding the calyx. 



Near the coast: San Francisco Peninsula and Marin Co. Apr.-May. Var. 

 maximum Hollick & Britton. (C. pilosum Brew. & Wats, not Ledeb.) Stout, 

 tall, 1 to 2 ft. high; leaves elongated; inflorescence very spreading; capsule 

 equaling to nearly twice the length of the calyx. — Pt. Eeyes. 



5. STELLARIA L. Chickweed. 

 Low herbs, loving moist ground or shaded habitat. Flowers white, small, 

 axillary and solitary, or terminal and cymose. Sepals 5. Petals 5, parted 

 almost to the base into narrow segments. Stamens 3 to 10. Styles 3 or 4. 

 Capsule ovoid or oblong, relatively shorter than in Cerastium, dehiscent to 

 below the middle into as many or twice as many valves as there are styles. 

 (Latin stella, a star, the flowers star-snaped.) 



Annual. 



Stems weak, procumbent; bracts foliaceous 1. S. media. 



Stems filiform, erect; bracts scarious 2. S. nit ens. 



Perennial ; bracts foliaceous 3. S. I itt oralis. 



1. S. media Cyrill. Common Chickweed. Slightly succulent, with weak 

 procumbent stems, rooting at the lower nodes; lower leaves ovate, acute, rather 

 abruptly contracted into slender petioles, tin- upper narrower, sessile; floral 

 bracts foliaceous; pedicels slender, deflexed in fruit; petals shorter than the 

 pubescent sepals; stamens 3, 5 or 10; styles 3. 



