, [ 79° 1 Zd*.
CERASTIUM vifcofum.
N a rro iv -le a v e d M o u fe-ea r C h ickw eed .
DECANDRIA Pentagynia.
G e n . C h a r . Cal. 5-leaved. Petals cloven. Cap/.
fuperior, of 1 cell, burfting at the top, with 10
teeth.
S p e c . C h a r . Hairy, vifcid, fpreading. Leaves lanceolate
oblong.
S y n . Ceraftium vifcofum. Linn. Sp. P i. 6 27 . Sm.
F I. B rit. 497. L igh tf. 240.
C. vulgatum. Hudf. 200. W ith. 4 3 3 . Hull. 10 1 .
Relb. 17 8 . Sibth. 146. Curt. Lond. fa fc . 2. t. 34.
Alfine hirfuta Myofotis. R ail Syn. 349.
Myofotis hirfuta altera vifcofa. Vaill. P a r. t. 30.
ĥ i : _ _ _ _ _
T h i s is equally common with the C. vulgatum, growing
in paftures, wade places, on walls, and even in moift meadows,
nor is it at all more vifcid than that, fo that Linnaeus has not
been happy in the fpecific names of the two fpecies. We muff
however defend Vaillant, as well as Linnaeus, fo far as to fay
in oppofition to Mr. Curtis, copied by Dr. Sibthorp, that the
plant now under conlideration is always vifcid, though lefs fo
at an advanced age, and in cold weather.
It flowers from May to September, and differs from the preceding
in being perennial, as well as in its fpreading or procumbent
ftems, darker green hue, and narrower leaves. The
parts of frudtification are alfo larger; petals longer and more
confpicuous. Flower-ftalks generally longer. Seeds rugged.
The ftamina are ten, all fertile as in the other, by which both
are known from C.femidecandrum, pentandrum and tetrandrum.
The laft mentioned is defcribed in the prefent work as a Sagina,
1 .166, but Mr. Curtis’s juft remarks (in fpiteof the erroneous
criticifms on my botanical phrafeology with which they are
mixed) have led me to make it a Cerajlium in the FI, Brit.
7W