CERASTIUM 
5 * 
S CERASTIUM VISCOSUM. Plate 48 
Alsine myosotis humilior et rotundo folio Merrett Pinax 6 (1 666); A. hirsuta latifolia praecocior 1 Ray Syn. 
ed. 3, 348 (1724); A. hirsuta altera viscosa Ray Cat. Angl. 16 (1670). 
Cerastium viscosum L. Sp. PI. 437 (1753); FI. Suec. ed. 2, 158 (1755); Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1039 
(1759) ; Sp. PI. ed. 2, 627 (1762) ; non herb. ; Hudson FI. Angl. 175 (1762) ; Thuillier FI. Env. Paris ed. 2, 226 (1799) 
inch C. glomeratum\ Grenier Monogr. Cerast. 25 (1841); Schultz Arch. FI. i, 23 (1842); C. vulgatum Linn, 
herb, non Sp. PI . ; Smith FI. Brit. 496 (1800)!; Eng. FI. ii, 330 (1824); non L. ; Syme Eng. Bot. ii, 82 
(1864); Rouy FI. France iii, 212 (1896). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 789, as C. vulgatum ; Curtis FI. Lond. i, 94, as C. viscosum ; FI. Dan. t. 1931, 
as C. viscosum-, Reichenbach Icon. Crit. iii, t. 233, figs. 385, 386, as C. vulgatum ; Icon, v, t. 229, fig. 4970, 
as C. vulgatum. 
Camb. Brit. FI. iii. Plate 48- ( a ) Plant in flower, (b) Portion of stem (enlarged), (c) Flower (enlarged). 
(d) Calyx (enlarged), (e) Capsules (one enlarged). Huntingdonshire (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 2638, as C. viscosum\ Bourgeau ( Pyr . Esp.), 213, as C. glomeratum-, Fries, xiv, 41, as 
C. viscosum ; Todaro, 1021, as C. viscosum ; 1022, as C. viscosum var. glomeratum ; FI. Exs. Austr.-Hung. 3248, 
as C. viscosum ; Rel. Maill. 930, 938, as C. glomeratum. 
Annual. Shoot strongly viscous with glandular hairs, 6 — 24 cm., branched at the base, lateral 
branches ascending. Laminae oblong-elliptical, almost connate below, obtuse to subacute, about 
1 -5 — 2'o cm. long and 5 — 8 mm. broad. Inflorescence more or less densely crowded with flowers. 
Bracts all green, lowest pair like the leaves only a little smaller, upper ones more ovate. Pedicels 
shorter than the calyx when in flower, in fruit shorter than the capsules. Flowers usually pentamerous, 
rarely tetramerous ; April to September. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, with narrow white margins, very 
acute. Petals 1*2— 1 '3 times as long as the sepals, not contiguous, apical notch deeper than in 
C. semidecandrum, lobes oblong and but little spreading. Stamens 10 ; filaments glabrous. Capsule 
about twice as long as the calyx, curved. Seeds pale brown, compressed, punctate. 
Smith (Eng. FI. ii, 331 (1824)) states that much misconception has prevailed among botanists concerning C. vulgatum L. 
and C. viscosum L. I submit that the misconception is really Smith’s. In my allocation of the names in question, I am 
following the original descriptions of Linnaeus, and using the names in the same way as pre-Smithian botanists, and 
Fries, and others. Smith inverted the names, being (in my judgment) misled by the plants of the Linnaean herbarium, 
which are to be allocated as Smith states ! Some botanists have endeavoured to get over the difficulty by adopting 
the name of C. caespitosum Gilibert FI. Lituan. v, 159 (1782) for the plant I name C. vulgatum L. ; but this overlooks 
the fact that Gilibert, * in the work cited, has a C. vulgatum and a C. viscosum as well as his C. caespitosum which 
seems to be a third species. Some botanists who prefer to adopt what they regard as unambiguous names use C. triviale 
for C. vulgatum and C. glomeratum for C. viscosum. However, it is clear to me that, although Linnaeus mixed his 
specimens, the descriptions in the Spec. Plant, (ed. 1 and ed. 2) and the FI. Suecica belong to the plants to which the 
names are here attached. 
Linnaeus has both the following varieties in his herbarium; and both of them seem to be distributed throughout 
eastern England, and elsewhere. 
(f 3 ) subvar. apetalum Druce in Moss Camb. Brit. FI. iii, 51 ; C. apetalum Dumortier Comm. Bot. 47 (1822); 
C. glomeratum var. apetalum Mertens und Koch Deutschl. FI. ed. 3, iii, 339 (1831); Babington Man. ed. 2, 54 
(1847); N. E. Brown in Eng. Bot. ed. 3, suppl. 39 (1891); C. glomeratum forma apetalum Murbeck in Bot. Not. 
256 (1898); C. viscosum var. apetalum Druce FI. Berksh. 91 (1897). 
Exsiccata: — Herb. Druce, 315, 1029, 1158. 
A dwarfer form. Shoot 2 — 10 cm. Flowers cleistogamous. Petals rudimentary or absent. 
Stamens usually about 5. Capsule smaller, not quite as long as the calyx. 
There is an interesting note on this form in the Journ. Bot. xxxviii, pp. 276 — 277 (1900) by C. E. Britton. 
Surrey, Berkshire, Glamorganshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Staffordshire, North Riding of Yorkshire, 
Perthshire, and doubtless elsewhere. 
Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France, central and southern Europe, Russia. 
(a) C. viscosum var. elongatum Druce in Moss Camb. Brit. FI. iii, 51 ; C. viscosum Thuillier FI. Env. Paris 
ed. 2, 226 (1799); C. glomeratum var. corollinum subvar. elongatum Rouy et Foucaud FI. France iii, 213 (1896). 
Exsiccata : — Herb. Druce, 726, 6592. 
Inflorescence laxer than in var. confer turn. Pedicels longer. 
Widely distributed from the Channel Isles northwards at least to Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and 
Cambridgeshire. 
France, and doubtless elsewhere. 
Cited by Fries (loc. cit.) for his C. glutinosum ; but see Druce and Vines The Dillenian Herbaria 107 (1907). 
7—2 
y„ Of IU- LIB. 
