[ 5 11 3
S T E L L A R I A h o lo ft e a .
Greater Stitchwort.
Jf y
D E C A N D R I A Trigynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. 5-ieaved, fpreading. Petals 5,
cloven. Capfule o f one cell, with many feeds.
Spec. Char. Leaves lanceolate, ferrulated. Petals
two-lobed.
Syn. Stellaria holoftea. Linn. Sp. P I. 603. Hudf. 190.
With. 4 1 7 . Relh. 170. Sibth. 140. Curt. Lond.
fa jc . 2. t. 30. Dickf. H . S icc.fa fc. 7. 6.
Caryophyllus holofteus arvônfis glaber flore majore.
R a ii Synr 3 46.
V e r y frequent in groves and about dry hedge bottoms,
where its brilliant white ftarry blofloms render it confpicuous
in the fpring. The herb has fo much of a grafiy appearance,
that old botanifts have named it the white-flowering grafs.
Root perennial, creeping, fmall. Stems at their bafe decumbent,
flertder and very delicate, then upright, fupporting
themfelves among bufhes or grafs, otherwife the leaft breath of
wind would lay them proftrate ; they are fquare, jointed, rough
at the angles immediately under the joints, leafy, brittle, but
with a ftrong woody ftrufture in their inner part, as is the cafe
with molt of this tribe. Leaves oppofite, feflile, lanceolate,
long and {harp-pointed, a little revolute, their margins finely
ferrulated, their mid-rib {harp, their furface {lightly glaucous
and deftitute of all pubefcence. The ftem terminates in a forked
manner, leafy, fomewhat panicled, and the flowers grow on
long folitary fimple {talks from its divifions. Calyx-leaves
lanceolate, a little membranous at the edges. Petals inverfely
heart-lhaped, cloven about half way down. Stamina white
with yellow antherse. -Styles Ihorter, blunt and downy.
Germen globular. Capfule of nearly the fame figure, and
containing about 6 or 7 kidney-lhaped brown feeds.