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CERASTIUM vulgatum.
Broad-leaved Moufe-ear Chickweed.
DEC ANURIA Pentagynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. 3 -leaved. Petals cloven* Capf,
fuperior, of i cell, burfting at the top, with io
teeth.
Spec. Char. Hairy, vifcid, forming tufts. Leaves
ovate. Petals equal to the calyx. Flowers longer
than their ftalks.
S y n . Ceraftium vulgatum. Linn. Sjft. Nat. ed. i o .
v . 2. 1039. fy- PL 6 3 7 . Sm. FI. Brit. 496.
Lightf. 240.
C. vifcofum. Hudf. 200. With. 4 3 3 . Hull. xoi.
Relh. 178* Sibth. 14 7 . Abbot. 10 1 . Curt. Lond.
fafc. 2. t. 3 5 .
Alfine hirfuta Myofotis latifolia praecocior. Rail Syn.
3 4 8 .
Myofotis arvenfis hirfuta parvo flore. Vaill. Par. t,
3° -ƒ• 3*
N o plants have been more generally miftaken for each other
than the common Cerajlium vulgatum and C. vifcofum. The
caufe of the error is Linnaeus, who mifquoted Variant's admirable
figures; and the indolent practice of turning to plates
and fynonyms, inftead of attending to his definitions and folid
defcriptions, has milled many of his compiling difciples. The
plant now before us was not noticed in the firll ed. of Sp. PI.
but occurs firfl: in the tenth ed. of Syjlema Natures, and the
original fpecimen marked A, referring to that edition, ftill
preferved in the Linnasan herbarium, precludes all pofiibility
of error. Mr. Lightfoot alone, of all our writers, knew thefe
fpecies rightly.
C s vulgatum abounds in wade and cultivated ground, on
walls, banks, and dry fandy places, flowering in April and
May. Its light-green hue, yellowifh in decay, its broad ovate
leaves and fmaller flowers, diftinguifh it from the vifcofum.
The ftems are alfo more eredt. The whole herb is hairy and
more or lefs vifcid. Petals white, emarginate, fcarcely longer
than the calyx. Stamina all fertile. Capfule cylindrical, a
little curved. Seeds tawny, ftreaked, and roughifh. The root
is conftantly annual only.