PINK FAMILY 83 



flowering stems, especially in bushy places, seem to have made an 

 unusually rapid growth. — Fl. April — June. Perennial. 



5. S. palustr/s (Glaucous Marsh Stitchwort). — Glabrous, 

 glaucous; stem slender, erect, 4-angled, 6 — 12 in. high; leaves 

 sessile, narrow, tapering, entire ; flowers few, in a loose cyme, 

 \ — f in. across ; bracts and sepals with membranous margins ; 

 petals very deeply 2,-cleft, much longer than the 3-veined sepals. — 

 Marshy places ; not common. — Fl. May — August. Perennial. 



6. S. graminea (Lesser Stitchwort). — Glabrous, not glaucous ; 

 stem straggling, 1 — 3 feet high, 4-angled ; leaves sessile, very- 

 narrow, acute, ciliate ; floivers smaller than in the last two species, 

 in loose cymes ; bracts membranous ; petals very deeply cleft, 

 scarcely longer than the 3-veined sepals. — Dry heathy places ; 

 common. — Fl. May — August. Perennial. 



7. S. uliginbsa (Bog Stitchwort). — Slender, straggling or erect, 

 3 — 18 in. high; stem 4-angled, glabrous; leaves broadly lanceolate, 

 with a stiff tip, smooth, sometimes ciliate ; flowers few, \ in. across, 

 in loose cymes ; petals deeply 2-cleft, shorter than the 3-veined 

 sepals. — Boggy places ; common. — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



12. Myosoton (Great Chickweed). — A straggling perennial 

 herbaceous plant, resembling Sielldria nemorum, covered with 

 glandular hairs, with ovate leaves ; flowers in the forks of the 

 stem ; sepals 5 ; petals 5, bifid, longer than the sepals ; 

 stamens 10, styles 5 ; capsule with 5 bifid valves, many-seeded. 

 (Name from the Greek, meaning mouse-ear.) 



1. M. aqudticnm (Great Chickweed). — A much-branched, strag- 

 gling plant ; stem angular, brittle, 1 — 3 feet long, covered with 

 glandular hairs ; leaves ovate-cordate, acute, ciliate, the lower ones 

 stalked ; floivers solitary in the angles of the stems. — Wet places, 

 but not general. — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



13. Cerastium (Mouse-ear Chickweed). — Pubescent, or rarely 

 glabrous, herbs, white flowers in terminal dichasial cymes; sepals 5; 

 petals as many, bifid ; stamens 10, sometimes 5 or 4 ; styles usually 

 3 or 5 ; ovules many; capsules tubular, often incurved, 10-toothed. 

 (Name from the Greek keras, a horn, from the shape of the capsule 

 in some species.) 



t Capsule nearly straight. Annual 



1. C. tetrdndrum (Four-stamened Mouse-ear Chickweed). — 



Hairy and viscid, 4 — 12 in. high; stem forking from the base; 



leaves oval or oblong ; bracts broad, oval, leafy ; flowers \ in. 



across ; sepals acuminate with narrow membranous margins j 



G 2 



