/r^ [ I° ?4 3
ST E L LARIA uliginofa«, i : . O
flog Stitchwort.
D E CA ND R1A Trigynia.
G en . C h a r . Cal. 5-leaved, fpreading. Petals 5, deeply
cloven. C aff, fuperior, of 1 cell, with 6 teeth at
the orifice. Seeds numerous.
S p e c . C h a r . Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, entire,.with
a callous tip. Flowers irregularly panieled, lateral,
Petals fhorter than the calyx.
Syn. Stellaria uliginofa. Sm. F I. B rit. 476. Curt.
Land. fa ß . 6. t. a8. With. 420. Hull. 97.
Sibth. 141. Ahhot. 96.
S. graminea y . Hudf. 190. Linn. F I. Suec. 150.
Reih. 17p. ed. 2. iyx.
Alfine longifolia, uliginqfis proveniens locis. Rail
% ■ 347'
F R E Q f JE N T in rivulets, and clear brooks or ditches byroad
tides, flowering plentifully in June.
The root is annual, final! and fibrous. Herb weak and
(lender, fmooth, qf a pale fomewhat glaucous green. Stems
branched, quadrangular, leafy. Leaves rather elliptical,
furnithed with many parallel veins, entire, but waved in the
margin, tipped with a fmall callous point. Flower-ftalks
axillary and terminal, fpreading, generally three together, of
which 2 are three-cleft and three-flowered, the remaining one
tingle-flowered, all furnithed with membranous lanceolate
bra&eae. Flowers fmaller than in any other Britith fpecies.
Calyx-leaves 3-nerved, the outermoft fringed. Petals greenith
white, fhorter than the calyx. Dr. Stokes has obferved that
the ftyles vary from 3, the natural number, to 4 or 5.
It may fuem ftrange that this very diftinft fpecies thould
ever have been confounded with $. graminea, (fee v . 12.
t. 803.); the German botanifts are entitled to the honour of
firft diftinguithing them. The peculiar inflorefcence, the fhort
petals, and the form and ftru&ure of the leaves, mark S. tfligi-
Xiofa with fufficient precifion.