_Pink Family_
Herbaceous plants, often swollen at the nodes, with opposite entire
leaves and perfect or rarely diœcious regular flowers; sepals 4 or 5
persistent, separated or united into a calyx tube; petals equal in
number to the sepals or none; stamens twice as many as the sepals or
fewer.
Sepals united; petals long clawed.
Calyx 10-many nerved.
Styles 3; capsule with 3 or 6 teeth. =Silene.=
Styles 5; capsule with 5 or 10 teeth. =Lychnis.=
Sepals free to the base or nearly so.
Petals two-cleft or rarely none.
Capsule cylindric, usually curved. =Cerastium.=
Capsule ovate or oblong, not curved. =Alsine.=
Petals entire or notched, rarely none.
Styles as many as the sepals and alternate with them. =Sagina.=
Styles fewer than the sepals.
Seeds appendaged. =Mœhringia.=
Seeds not appendaged. =Arenaria.=
[Illustration: Silene acaulis L. (⅔ Nat.) Moss Campion.]
[Illustration: Lychnis apetala L. (⅔ Nat.) Nodding Lychnis.]
[Sidenote: =Silene acaulis= L. _Moss Campion._]
Closely tufted, an inch or two high, forming cushion-like beds, often 2
feet or more across. Leaves sessile, crowded, linear, ½ an inch or less
long, the margins ciliate. Flowers ¼ of an inch or more across, nearly
sessile or raised on naked curved peduncles, often ½ an inch long;
calyx narrowly campanulate, ¼ of an inch long, smooth, the teeth short,
rounded; petals rose-purple or rarely white, entire or notched.
In alpine meadows, in stony ground, on the moraines and tops of the
mountains throughout the region, flowering in June and July.
[Sidenote: =Silene Lyallii= S. Wats. _Lyall’s Catchfly._]
Stems slender, decumbent at the base, 12—18 inches high, minutely hairy
throughout, glandular above. Leaves, the basal spatulate, obtuse 1—2
inches long on long petioles, those of the stem linear 1—2 inches long,
sessile. Flowers on short peduncles in rather loose terminal heads;
calyx oblong, inflated, about ½ an inch long, narrow, glandular, teeth
purple-tipped; petals white, nearly half an inch long, spreading,
two-lobed.
On grassy alpine slopes throughout the region, flowering in June and
July.
[Sidenote: =Lychnis apetala= L. _Nodding Lychnis._]
More or less glandular-hairy, 2—6 inches high. Leaves linear or
oblanceolate, ½-2½ inches long. Flower solitary, ½—¾ of an inch
long, nodding; calyx inflated, strongly purple veined, its teeth
triangular-ovate, acute; petals purple, as long as or shorter than the
calyx, narrow, 2-cleft.
Among loose boulders on the moraines and alpine summits throughout the
region, flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Cerastium arvense strictum= (L.) Rydb. _Field Chickweed._]
Stems tufted, ascending from a decumbent base, 3—6 inches high, hairy
throughout, roughly so at the base; glandular at the summit. Leaves
numerous, ½—¾ of an inch long, narrowly lanceolate, acute, with a broad
sessile base. Flowers several in a more or less close head, nearly half
an inch broad, white; petals deeply notched.
In dry stony ground in the lower valleys of the Rockies, flowering in
June.
[Sidenote: =Cerastium behringianum= Cham. and Schl. _Alpine Chickweed._]
Thick, silky-hairy below, with sticky hairs above; stems matted 1—3
inches high. Leaves small, oblong, ¼ of an inch long or less, rather
thick, obtuse. Flowers ¼ of an inch or more broad; petals white,
notched at the apex, sometimes little longer than the lanceolate sepals.
In stony ground, alpine slopes and summits throughout the Rockies,
flowering during summer.
[Sidenote: =Alsine longipes= (Goldie) Coville. _Long-stalked
Stitchwort._]
Erect or ascending, tufted, simple or rarely sparingly branched, 3—12
inches high, smooth and shining. Leaves light green, lanceolate or
linear-lanceolate, ½—1½ inches long, broad at the base. Flowers few,
¼—⅓ of an inch broad, terminal, on long, slender, erect pedicels;
sepals ovate or lanceolate, acute; petals 2-cleft, exceeding the calyx.
In moist open places throughout the Rockies, flowering in June.
[Sidenote: =Alsine læta= (Richards.) Rydb. _Glaucous Stitchwort._]
Low, smooth, or somewhat hairy, 1—4 inches high, very glaucous
throughout, densely leafy at the base. Leaves keeled, lanceolate,
awl-shaped to linear, rather stiff, ¼—½ an inch long. Flowers ¼ of
an inch or more across; sepals lanceolate, acute, ⅛ of an inch long;
petals notched, longer than the sepals; stamens showy, with scarlet
anthers.
In alpine meadows and moist grounds at high altitudes, throughout the
region; flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Alsine borealis= (Bigel.) Britton. _Northern Stitchwort._]
Erect or ascending, weak, much branched, smooth, or hairy above, 6—18
inches long. Leaves thin, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, ½—1½ inches
long, acute, sessile, thin, margins slightly hairy or naked. Flowers
small and inconspicuous in a leafy terminal compound head, ascending or
spreading on slender pedicels; sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute; petals
shorter than the sepals or none.
In wet places at the lower altitudes throughout the Rockies; flowering
throughout the summer from early June.
[Illustration: _a_ Alsine borealis (Bigel.) Britton. Northern
Stitchwort.
_b_ Mœhringia lateriflora (L.) Fenzl. Blunt-Leaved Sandwort. (½ Nat.)]
[Illustration: Arenaria capillaris nardifolia (Ledeb.) Regel. (⅔ Nat.)
Rock Sandwort.]
[Sidenote: =Sagina saginoides= (L.) Britton. _Arctic Pearl-wort._]
Smooth, stems very slender and tufted, 1—4 inches high. Leaves 1⅛ to
nearly ½ an inch long with a spiny tip. Flowers small, solitary or few
together, at the end of the slender stem, about ⅛ of an inch broad;
petals white minute, hardly exceeding the calyx.
On rocks and moist sandy ground throughout the region; flowering in
June.
[Sidenote: =Mœhringia lateriflora= (L.) Fenzl. _Blunt-leaved Sandwort._]
Stems erect or ascending, simple or at length, sparingly branched,
finely hairy throughout, 4—12 inches high. Leaves thin, oval, or
oblong, ½—1 inch long, obtuse, spreading, the margins and nerves
fringed with hairs. Flowers few in lateral and terminal clusters or
sometimes solitary; ¼ of an inch or more broad, their parts in 4’s or
5’s; sepals oblong, obtuse or acute, half as long as the nearly entire
white petals.
In moist places growing among grass, throughout the Rockies; flowering
in June.
[Sidenote: =Arenaria capillaris nardifolia= (Ledeb.) Regel. _Rock
Sandwort._]
Smooth throughout except the tops of the stems and sepals, which are
glandular; stems slender, 4—8 inches high, numerous from a tufted,
leafy base. Leaves mostly in bundles ½—1½ inches long, smooth, very
slender and curved, with a spiny tip, those of the stem few and much
reduced. Flowers white, ½ an inch broad in a loose branching head.
A rather striking plant on grassy slopes throughout the region;
flowering in June.
[Sidenote: =Arenaria verna equicaulis= A. Nelson. _Vernal Sandwort._]
Very slender, much branched and finely, sticky-hairy throughout;
stems thread-like, numerous, nearly of a uniform length in the same
plant, 2—3 inches long. Leaves crowded at the base, few and much
reduced above, linear, awl-shaped, thick, semi-cylindric, nearly
smooth. Flowers small, little more than ⅛ of an inch across; sepals
ovate-oblong, acute, strongly 3-nerved; petals white, acute, not
exceeding the sepals.
A small tufted plant with wiry stems and minute white star-like
flowers, in moist or dry, sandy places throughout the region from the
low valleys to the alpine summits; flowering in May and June.
[Sidenote: =Arenaria sajanensis= Willd. _Alpine Sandwort._]
Closely tufted, stems densely glandular-hairy, decumbent, very leafy
below, ½—2½ inches long with 2 or 3 pairs of short, rather distant
leaves and terminating in 1—3 flowers. Lower leaves, linear-obtuse,
stiff, ⅛ of an inch or more long, smooth or slightly hairy; calyx lobes
linear-oblong, 1—3 ribbed, glandular, hairy, ⅛ of an inch long; petals
white, broad, equalling or exceeding the sepals.
On high alpine slopes and summits, throughout the Rockies; flowering in
June and July.