CAKYOPHYLLACEiE. 



123 



1. Upright Moenchia. Mcenchia erecta, Sm. (Fig. 155.) 

 (Sagina, Eng. Bot. t. 609.) 



A glabrous and glaucous annual, 2 to 

 4 or rarely 6 inches high. Leaves linear, 

 the radical ones slightly spathulate and 

 stalked, the upper ones few and sessile. 

 Flowers few, white, rather large for the 

 size of the plant, on long, erect pedicels. 

 Sepals nearly 3 lines long, broadly lan- 

 ceolate, pointed, with white scarious 

 margins. Petals rather shorter. Capsule 

 ovate. 



In stony or sandy wastes and pastures, 

 over the greater part of central and 

 southern Europe, but not extending to 

 its eastern limits, nor into the north of 

 Germany. Spread over England as far 

 north as Cheshire and Durham, not re- 

 corded from Ireland. FL spring or early summer. 



Fig. 155. 



IX. HOLOSTEUM. HOLOSTEUM. 



Small annuals. Sepals 5. Petals 5, more or less toothed or jagged, 

 but not cleft. Stamens usually 5. Styles 3. Capsule opening in 6 

 short valves or teeth. 



Besides our species, there are but one or two from the Levant, all 

 differing from Cerast in the less divided petals, and generally fewer 

 stamens and styles. 



1. Umbellate Holosteum. Holosteum umbellatum, Linn. 

 (Fig. 156.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 27.) 



A slightly downy, more or less viscid annual, seldom above 6 inches 

 high, divided at the base into several erect or ascending stems. Radical 

 leaves spreading, oblong or elliptical ; those of the stem sessile, varying 

 from ovate to linear, often half an inch long, or more. The upper part 

 of the stem forms an almost leafless peduncle, bearing an umbel of 3 

 to 8 flowers, on long pedicels, erect at the time of flowering, then turned 



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