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C E R A S T I UM alpiaum.
Alpine Chickweed.
D E C A N D R I A Pentagynia.
G e n . C h a r . Cal. 5-leaved. Petals cloven. Capfule
of one cell, burfting at the top.
S p e c . C h a r . Leaves elliptical, naked, or clothed with
long hairs. Panicle forked, of few flowers, fur-
nifhed with bradteae. Capfule oblong, curved.
S y n . Ceraftium alpinum. Linn. Sp. P I. 628. Hudf,
2 0 1. JVtth. 4 34 . F I. Dan. t. 6.
C. latifolium. L igh tf. 242. 1. 10.
Alfines Myofotis facie, Lychnis Alpina flore amplo
niveo repens. R a il Syn. 349. t. 1 5 . / . 2.
F e w of our Britilh plants have been lefs underftood than
Cerajlium alpinum, and latifolium. We have lately received
frefli wild fpecimens of both from Mr. Griffith of Garn, and
others from Mr. Mackay of Edinburgh, and, finding them perfectly
diftinCt, have endeavoured to afcertain their differences
and fynonyms.
The C. alpinum has a creeping perennial root, forming tufts
of leafy Hems, branching from the bafe, round, erect, from
3 to 5 inches high, fimple upwards, but terminating generally
in a fort of forked panicle of feveral flowers; in poor weak
branches or Items, the flower is folitary. Leaves varying in
fhape and breadth, but always more or lefs elliptical, a little
pointed, oppofite of courfe, and feffile. The herb is fome-
times quite fmooth, fometimes clothed with white hairs, which
are long, filky, pointing upwards, jointed like a Conferva,
with longifh joints. Lightfoot has well figured it in its molt
hairy ftate, though he miftook it (as Dr. Withering juftly ob-
ferves) for C. latifolium. I have gathered it on Ben Lomond,
exaCtly like that figure ; and it being then taken for the latifolium,
Mr. Woodward’s defcription, made from my fpecimens,
is by miftake referred by Dr. Withering to that fpecies. j Dille-
nius’s figure in Ray’s Synopfis gives a totally wrong idea of
the pubefcence, which is there reprefented very fhort. The
original Linnaean fpecimen is quite fmooth, and we have feen
fuch from Wales, though generally the plant is more or lefs
hairy. The flower-ftalks are naturally 2, 3, or more, forming
a forked panicle, and each of them is accompanied by a pair
of lanceolate braCtese. The flowers are large, white, and
handfome ; the calyx edged with a membrane, fliorter than the
petals. Stamina all perfeCt. Capfule, as it ripens, lengthened
out into a curved horn. This plant flowers from the end of
May to Auguft.