CERASTIUM UMBELLATUM. UMBELLIFEROUS
MOUSE-EARED CHICKWEED.
CERASTIUM umbellatum, caule supeme hirsute, viscido; foliis ovatis, glabns, floribus umbellatis;
petalis subintegris.
CERASTIUM umbellatum. H u is. Angl. ed. S. p. SOI. Dicks. Hurt. Sicc.fasc. 8. no. 5.
HOLOSTEUM umbellatum. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 130. Rose Rian, o f Bot. App. p. 445. t. 8. ƒ 4.
Poll. Pal. n. 135. Hoffm. Germ. p. 43. Loefl. Iter. p. 180. Roth Germ. col. 1.
p. 54. ml. 8. p. \ s i . Engl. Bot. t. 37. Willd. Sp. PI. ml. 1. p. 489. Schkuhr
Bot. Handb. ml. 1'. p. 64. Flor. Dan. t. 1834. Knock. Siles. n. 197. Smith FIB
r it. ml. 1. 0. 161. Hort. Kew. ed. 1. ml. 1.p . 183.ed. 8. ml. l.p . 183. Pe rs.Syn.
P I. ml. \ .p . 111. Deslongch. FI. Gall.p. 72. W ith .B o t. A rr. ed. 5. ml. l . p . 233.
Lam. Illustr.n. 1191. <.51. ƒ. 1 Schrad. FI. Germ. ml. l .p . 415. Leers. Herh.p. 48.
HOLOSTEUM, quse Alsine vema, glabra, floribus umbellatis. Dill. G iss.p. 41. App. p. 130./. 6.
HOLOSTEUM caryophylleum arvense. Tabern. Ic. 233.
A L S IN E umbellata. Lam. FI. F r. ed. l.p . 45. ed. 3. vol. 4. p. 770. Lam. FI. Gall. Syn. p. 393.
A L S IN E floribus umbellatis, petiolis serratis. Hall. Helv. n. 869-
A L S IN E verna glabra, floribus umbellatis albis. Vaill. Par. p. 7.
CARYOPHYLLUS Holostius arvensis. Ger. Em. p. 595.
CARYOPHYLLUS arvensis umbellatus, folio glabro. Faith. Pin. p. 210. P ark. Theatr. t. 1338.
1| 1339-
CARYOPHYLLUS arvensis. Bauh. Hist. 3.p. 361.
SPERGULA foliis oppositis, pedunculis umbellatis. Gerett. p. 298. Dalib. P a r .p . 134.
LY CH N IS graminea hirsuta umbellifera. Moris. Hist. 2. p. 546. s. 5. t. 22. ƒ 46.
Dut. Heelbeen. Fr. HolostL Mignonette. Germ. Spurte. Ackernelkengras. Nagleingras. Blu-
mengras. JVeissniiglein. Verbriiet kraut. Fluetkraut. It. Erba lucciuola.
Class a n d Ord er. D E CANDRIA P ENTAGYNIA.
[N atural Ord e r . CARYOPIIYLLE7E, Juss. D e Cand. CARYOPHYLLEI, Linn.~\
GEN. Ch a r . Cal. quinque-phyllus. Petala bifida, aut emarginata, passim integra. Caps, unilocularis, apice
dentatim dehiscens. (Stamina Stylique in hoc ut in Stellarise genere numero variant.)
Rad ix parva, annua, fibrosa, fusca.
Caules ex eadem radice plures, primo plerumque diffus!,
demum erectiusculi, teretes, trinodes, sim-
plices, inferne omnino glabri, ' superne hirsuti,
viscidi.
Fölia pauca, ovata, acuta, inferiorafere lanceolata, basi
attenuata, omnia connata, glaucescentia, paulu-
lûm recùrva, omnino glabra, subcamosa.
INVOLUCRUM e foliolis minutis, ovatis, submembrana- I
ceis, diapbanis.
F lores umbellati, plerumque quatuor.
P ed u n cu l i uniflori, unciales, filiformes, primo erecti,
dein retroflexi, demum erecti.
Calyx : Perianthium pentaphyllum : foliolis ovatis, per-
sistentibus, æqualibus, lævibus, viridibus, margine
apiceque diaphanis, albis.
Corolla pentapetala calyce longiora, carnea, obovata,
subUnguiculata, apice emarginata vel dentato-
erosa.
Stamin a : filamenta tria, rarius plura. Antheræ subro-
tundæ, pallidæ.
P is t il l um : Germen ovatum, Styli plerumque très,
u v i l l o s i , paululum recurvi.
Capsula ovata, apice sexvalvi dehiscens, valvulis de-
mum revolutis.
SEMINA numerosa, ovato-quadrata, compressa, trigöna,
fusca, dorso convexa, lineatim punctato-scabro,
medio sulcato ; subtus medio prominulo subro-
stellato, adpresso notato.
Root small, annual, fibrous, brown.
Stems many from the same root, at first generally diffuse,
at length nearly erect, round, with three
joints, simple, below altogether smooth, above
hairy and viscid.
Leaves few, ovate, acute, the inferior ones lanceolate,
attenuated a t the base; all of them connate, glaucous',
a little recurved and altogether smooth;
somewhat fleshy.
I nvolucrum of many minute leaflets, ovate, somewhat
membranaceous, diaphanous.
F lowers umbellate, generally four.
P eduncles one-flowered, an inch long, filiform, at first
erect, then bent downward, and a t length again
erect.
Calyx : a five-leaved Perianthium : the leaflets ovate,
persistent, equal, smooth, green, with the margin
and apex diaphanous, white.
Corolla of five petals longer than the Calyx, flesh-coloured,
obovate, somewhat unguiculate, a t the
apex emarginate or dentato-erose.
Stamens of three' filaments, rarely more. An thrs
roundish, pale.
P is t il : Germen ovate. Styles generally three, hairy,
a little recurved.
Capsule ovate, a t the apex opening into six valves, the
valves a t length revolute.
Seeds numerous, ovato-quadrate, compressed, trigonous,
brown, on the back convex, rough with punctated
lines, and furrowed down the middle; beneath
in the middle furnished with a somewhat beaked
appressed prominence.
Fio\ 1. Calyx. Fig. 2. Petal. Fig. 3. Germen, Styles, and Anthers. Fig. 4. Germen and Styles. Fig. 5.
Ripe°Capsule within the persistent Calyx. Fig. 6. Seed, natural size. Fig. 7 § 8 . Seed seen from the back and
front, magnified. . .
I t is with the greatest reluctance that we differ from so many respectable botanists with regard to the genus ot
the present plant; yet it appears to us that, looking rather to the number of stamens and styles, which are known
to vary so much in many of the family of the Caryophyllete, than to its natural affinity, they have needlessly separated
it not only from the genus Ccrastium, but from the class in the Linnean system to which that genus belongs.
But surely such a separation is as unnatural as it would be were Ccrastium tetrandrum and semidecandrum
removed from the place in which they now stand. , . , , . . . . . . .
The subject of the annexed plate seems to have every right to the genus Ccrastium which the individuals just
mentioned possess, not receding in any essential particular from the amended character given by Persoon. Sir
James Smith has long ago observed that “ it agrees in habit with this genus, to which the number of stamens and
styles are said often nearly to approach “ that he has not found the petals so regularly bifid as they are in Cerastium
; nor has he seen more than three stamina and as many styles in each flower, though he confesses that he
has found the capsules with five valves.” Besides that when these differences occur the characters of tins plant
are as remote from Holosteum as they can at any time be from Ccrastium ; there is an additional reason for
suspecting at least that it does not really belong to the same genus as the rest of the Holostea, they being all natives
of the E ast and West Indies, whilst our plant is peculiar to the temperate parts of Europe.
Aware of the difficulties that attended the arrangement of this species among the Holostea, Lamarck, in his
Flore Française, has removed it to Alsine, together with our Stellaria media. We are satisfied of the propriety
of making this last-mentioned plant a Stellaria, and were not the petals of that genus universally deeply cleft, we
should have been glad to tread in the steps of so able a naturalist, and there to have placed our plant. Between
Stellaria uliginosa indeed and Cerastium umbellatum there is no small degree of resemblance, and Dr. Stokes of
Dublin has observed the styles of the former to vary from thrée to five, as is frequently the case with the latter.
I t is therefore only the notched or nearly undivided petals that have induced us to follow our countryman Hudson
in making it a Cerastium rather than a Stellaria. The capsule differs in some degree from that of many of
the Cerastia, having a more oval and less cylindrical figure, and a very deeply cleft mouth, precisely agreeing m
this particular with Ccrastium aquaticum. Its nearest affinity, however, is with C. viscosum and vulgatum, near
which it might be placed. The seeds, it must be acknowledged, differ from those of all the Cerastia which we have
had the opportunity o f examining.
With us Ccrastium umbellatum is of rare occurrence, having only been found on. the old city walls about
Norwich (where it was first discovered by Mr. Pitchford), and upon thatched roofs at Bury by Sir T. G. Cullum,
Bart, flowering so early as April and M ay, and withering with the earliest summer heats,.