210 
PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO 
[' Caryophyllece . 
A laxly decumbent, ascendent, erect or somewhat climbing herb, more or less dwarf or elongated, in 
favorable places when leaning over other plants attaining a height of several feet, often copiously branched. 
Root ramified; the cylindrical branches emitting many tender fibres. Branches more or less strict or spread- 
IjjrF quadrangular, clothed densely or scantily with soft crisp pale jointed hair, sometimes glabious. Leaves 
copious, opposite or by innovation fasciculate, in younger branches imbricate or crowded, strongly or slightly 
arcuate or straight, often squarrose, sometimes erect, 2-6 lines long, somewhat clasping, shining on both 
pages, with a beneath prominent midnerve. Pedicels shorter than the leaves or usually longer, attaining 
occasionally the length of lb inch, angular or compressed, rather stout, upwards thickened. Sepals some¬ 
what cymbiform, blunt at the base, 2-4 lines long, shining, glabrous or imperfectly ciliated; the inner ones 
with broad membranous margin. Petals sessile, white, tender-membranous, quickly collapsing, cleft to about 
three-fourths their length into two narrow- and oblique-oblong lobes, finely veined. Stamens 10. Filaments 
linear-setaceous, about as long as the sepals or somewhat shorter. Anthers doisifixed, versatile, almost 
ovate, line long, consisting of two narrow-ellipsoid cells, bursting with introrse-marginal dehiscence. 
Pollen-grains yellow, spherical, smooth. Styles S, free, glabrous, 1-2 lines long, capillary, white, stigmatose 
towards the summit inward. Ovary subglobose, glabrous, sessile, with many ovules. Capsule ovate, about 
as long as the calyx. Valves coherent in pairs. Funicles unequal, mostly short. Seeds few or several in 
each capsule, only seen in an unripe state, when they are nearly globose, about J line long, somewhat 
wrinkled and dark-brown. 
Certain states of this plant bear great similitude to some varieties of the following species. 
Stellaria glauca, Withering , Sot. ALrrcung . i. 420 ; Engl. Sot . t. 825; J. Hook. FI. Tam. i. 44; 
S. anguistifolia, Hook. Joum. of Sot . i. 250. 
Perennial, smooth or slightly scabrous; leaves linear , acute; pedicels axillary and terminal , solitary ; 
sepals lanceolate, very acute, three-nerved; petals little longer than the calyx, bipartite; anthers red; capsule 
ovate, attenuated at the base, six-valved; columella very short; seeds brown, papillose-rough. 
On moist rocky, grassy or sandy localities scattered over a considerable extent of the colony; advancing 
beyond Victoria to St. Vincent’s Gulf and to Tasmania and New South Wales. 
Stems variable in height, erect, strict or flaccid, sometimes intricate, tetragonous, usually distantly 
branched, smooth or slightly scabrid, emitting often from the lower joints capillary fibres. Leaves f-l£ inch 
long, J-1J line broad, vividly green or opaque, one-nerved, slightly thickened and often a little scabrous at 
the margin, sessile, broadest towards the base. Pedicels from 2b inches length variously shorter, angular, 
more or less spreading. Sepals 2-4 lines long, smooth or imperfectly ciliolated; the inner ones with a 
broader, the outer with a narrower membranous margin. Petals white, with oblique- and narrow-oblong 
lobes. Pilaments rather more than half or nearly as long as the sepals, linear-setaceous. Anthers oval, 
line long. Styles 3, capillary, about 2 lines long. Capsule nearly as long as the calyx or short exserted, 
somewhat attenuated at the base. Funicles of unequal length, capillary. Seeds in each capsule several or 
few, deep-brown, opaque, approximately \ line long, turgid, almost globose, rostellate. Embryo uncinate- 
annular, slender, almost entirely surrounding the albumen. Cotyledons about as long as the radicle. 
The European Stellaria graminea, of which S. Frieseana, S. longipes and S. longifolia appear to be 
merely varieties, is distinct, as far as our limited material here admits of judging, in producing scarious 
bracts at the base of the pedicels, whilst the flower-stalks of S. glauca arise from the axis of leaves. It 
requires therefore further investigations to learn whether this character, which impresses on both plants quite 
a different habit, is validated by other collateral notes, or whether the floral leaves are occasionally trans¬ 
formed into bracts. No transit exists in our specimens of St. graminifolia from Europe and North Amenca 
to those of St. glauca. Excluded from the here furnished description is the dwarf almost mossy Stellaria 
caespitosa (J. Hook, in London Joum. of Botany, ii. 411), although very probably constituting only a variety 
of St. glauca. In this not only leaves and flowers are reduced to a remarkable smallness, but also its stems 
