420 CARYOPHYLLACEAE. [Gypsophila. 
= 
that it has been introduced both into Australia and New Zealand, but so far as the 
latter country is concerned no evidence has ever been cbtained in support of such a 
view. It seems highly improbable that a plant found only in south Europe and Asia 
Minor shou'd arrive in Australia at a sufficiently early date to be detected by Robert 
Brown before 1805, and also travel to New Zealand, and become well established, before 
it was gathered by Mr. Colenso shortly after his arrival in 1834. On the assumption 
that-it is a naturalized plant, it is also difficult to account for the fact that is has not 
further increased its range during the last fifty years. 
2. STELLARIA Linn. 1753. 
Annual or perennial herbs of very various habit, usually low-growing 
and diffuse, glabrous or pubescent. Flowers white, solitary or cymose, 
terminal or lateral. Sepals 5, rarely 4. Petals the same number, 2-cleift, 
rarely wanting. Stamens 10 or fewer by abortion, hypogynous. Ovary 
l-celled ; styles 3, or rarely 2, 4, or 5; ovules few or many. Capsule 
globose to oblong, few or many-seeded, dehiscing to below the middle into 
twice as many valves as styles. Seeds granulate, tuberculate, or pitted. 
A genus of nearly 100 species, dispersed over the whole world, but most abundant 
in cold and temperate regions. The 6 indigenous species are all endemic, but 3 others 
from the Northern Hemisphere have become naturalized. One of these, S. media Linn., 
the common chickweed, is now so well established and has penetrated into such remote 
localities (it has been gathered in Macquarie Island) that a beginner will be certain to 
consider it indigenous. It has flaccid procumbent much-branched stems 6in. to 2 ft. 
long, marked by an alternate pubescent line; ovate-acuminate leaves, the lower on 
long ciliate petioles; and flowers both axillary and in terminal cymes. 
Creeping and- matted. Leaves orbicular. Sepals subulate- 
lanceolate, acute a = Pe a af .. L. 8S. parviflora. 
Creeping and matted. Leaves orbicular, ovate, obovate, or 
lanceolate. Sepals oblong-ovate, obtuse 2. S. decipiens. 
Small. Leaves soft, ovate. Sepals oblong, obtuse .. 3& S. minuta. 
Creeping or suberect. Leaves linear-oblong. Flowers almost 
sessile. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, acuminate As. .. 4. S&S. elatinoides. 
Glaucous, erect, dichotomously branched. aves linear. 
Fiowers large, green, ? in. EP 5. os .. § S. Rough. 
Tufted, suberect, rigid and wiry. Leaves acerose, linear-subulate 6, S. gracilenta. 
1. S. parvifiora Banks and Sol. ex Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853P 25.— 
A slender pale-green flaccid herb with creeping stems rooting at the nodes, 
often much branched and forming broad matted patches 6-12 in. diam. 
or more, glabrous or with a few weak hairs on the petioles. Leaves 
membranous, +} in. long, orbicular or broadly ovate, acute or mucronate, 
rarely cordate at the base ; blade usually longer than the petiole. Peduncles 
solitary, axillary, usually much longer than the leaves, 1-3-flowered; a 
pair of bracteoles at the fork of the peduncle, and another pair on one 
and sometimes on all the pedicels. Flowers minute, jin. diam. Sepals 
subulate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, with white scarious margins. 
Petals wanting or 5, 2-cleft to nearly the base, shorter than the sepals. 
Styles 3. Capsule longer than the sepals, deeply 6-valved. Seeds 4-12, 
red-brown, deeply pitted——Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 23; TF. Kirk 
Students’ Fl. (1899) 57; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 63. 8S. oligosperma 
Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii (1886) 257. 8. pellucida Col. l.c. xxvu (1895) 
n : a3 
383. Are fsa ts | Ihe, iGBu, SONA i Pr: 
NortH AND Soutrny Isntanbs, Stewart Istanp, CHatHam Istanps: Abundant 
throughout in both lowland and mountain districts, aseending to over 4000 ft. 
Mr. Colenso’s herbarium contains numerous examples of his S. oligosperma and 
S. pellucida, but I can find no characters to distinguish them from the ordinary form 
of the species, even as varieties. 
