46 
CARYOPHYLLACEAE 
Petals shorter than or about equaling the sepals. l.C. viscosum. 
Petals twice as long as the sepals.2. C. arvense. 
1. C. viscosum L. Mouse-Ear Chickweed. Erect annual 7.2 to 9.6 
cm. high; leaves ovate to elliptic-oblong, slightly joined at base, 1.2 to 
2.4 cm. long; petals oblong, bifid at apex, 4 mm. long; stamens 10 or only 
5 with anthers; pod much exceeding the calyx.—Fields and roadsides, 
native of Eur. 
2. C. arvense L. Field Chickweed. Perennial; stems several, 1.2 
to 2.1 dm. long; leaves linear, acute, 2.4 to 3.6 cm. long, the lowermost 
but half as long; petals deeply notched; pod scarcely exceeding calyx. — 
Near the coast, San Francisco and n. 
3. STELLARIA L. Chickweed 
Low herbs. Flowers white, small. Petals 5, parted almost to the base 
into 2 narrow segments. Stamens 3 to 10. Styles 3 or 4. Pod ovoid or 
oblong, opening from the apex bv as manv pr twice as many valves as 
there are styles. (Latin Stella, a star, the flowers star-shaped.) 
1. S. media Cyrill. Common Chickweed. Stems slightly succulent, 
weak and procumbent; lower leaves ovate, acute, petioled, the upper nar¬ 
rower, sessile; pedicels slender, turned downward in fruit; bracts folia- 
ceous; petals shorter than the sepals; stamens 10, 5, or 3.—Half-shady 
places, common naturalized weed from Asia. 
2. S. nitens Nutt. Slender Chickweed. Stems erect, filiform, 
branching above, 7 to 17 cm. high; leaves linear, acute, sessile, 4 to 14 
mm. long, or the lowest ovate, 2 to 6 mm. long, abruptly contracted into 
slender petioles nearly twice as long; bracts scarious; petals half as long 
as the sepals, sometimes none.—Grassy hillsides and plains. 
4. ARENARIA L. Sandwort 
Low branching annuals or tufted or prostrate perennials. Leaves most¬ 
ly lanceolate or subulate, sessile, often rigid. Flowers white. Petals en¬ 
tire. Stamens 10. Styles 3. Pod globose or short oblong, opening by 3 
entire or cleft valves. (Latin arena, sand, in which many species grow.) 
1. A. californica Brew. Glabrous delicate annual 2.4 to 9.5 cm. high, 
diffusely branching from the base; leaves lanceolate, rather broad at 
base, slightly fleshy, 2 to 4 mm. long; petals oblong, \y 2 times as long 
as the sepals.—Gravelly hill slopes or disintegrating rock outcroppings. 
2. A. douglasii Fenzl. Annual; stems much branched, 4.8 to 14.5 cm. 
high; herbage glabrous or viscid-glandular; leaves filiform, 8 to 10 mm. 
long; petals obovate, 4 mm. long, exceeding the narrow sepals.—Sterile 
hillside soils. 
5. SPERGULARIA J. & C. Presl. Sand Spurrey 
Low herbs. Leaves linear or subulate-filiform, semi-terete, with scari¬ 
ous stipules. Sepals 5. Petals 5, white, pink or reddish, entire. Stamens 
commonly 10. Styles 3, rarely 5. Pod 3-valved. Seeds often wing- 
margined. (Derivative of Spergula.) 
Perennials. 
Erect or ascending, more or less succulent, with fleshy fusiform roots. 
1. .S. macrotheca. 
Prostrate, not obviously succulent; roots fibrous, not fleshy. 
Stems long and somewhat straggling, from a matted or tufted center, 
flowering from the middle to the end of the branches..2. S. rubra. 
