CARYOPHYLLACE^:. 



129 



when in fruit. Petals narrow, deeply 

 cleft, about one-half longer than the 

 calyx. 



In wet places, along ditches and 

 streams, etc., very widely diffused over 

 Europe and Russian and central Asia, 

 except the extreme north, and migrating 

 with man to several other parts of the 

 world. Not common in Britain, although 

 found in most English counties, as far 

 north as Yorkshire and Cheshire, and 

 believed to have been found in Ireland. 

 Fl. sicmmer. The flowers have occa- 

 sionally, but seldom, only 3 styles. 



Fig. 161. 



2. Wood Starwort. Stellaria nemorum, Linn. (Fig. 162.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 92.) 



Rootstock creeping, of some years' 

 duration. Stems weak, emitting creep- 

 ing branches from the base, the flowering 

 branches ascending to 6 inches or a foot, 

 with a few short, spreading hairs. Leaves 

 heart-shaped, pointed, of a thin texture, 

 usually glabrous or slightly ciliated on 

 the edges, the lower ones small, on long 

 stalks, the upper 1 to 2 inches long, with 

 much shorter stalks or nearly sessile. 

 Flowers in elegant, loose, spreading 

 cymes, on long, slender pedicels, with 

 small bracts at their base. Sepals about 

 3 lines, the petals nearly twice as long, 

 narrow, and deeply cleft. Styles 3. 

 Capsule straight, opening to near the 

 base into 3 bifid or 6 entire valves. 



In moist woods, throughout northern 

 Europe and the hilly districts of central, 

 and some parts of southern Europe, and across Russian Asia to western 

 North America. In Britain, chiefly in northern and western England 

 and southern Scotland. Not recorded from Ireland. FL summer. 



Fig. 162. 



