Pink Family. — Caryophyllaceæ
Field Chickweed. Cerastium arvense.
Found in May on dry and sandy banks.
The stalk branches a little for the flowers, and varies in height from 6 to 10 inches; it is rough with hairs, and green.
The small, grass-like leaves are rough-hairy, and green; they are set in pairs, joined about the stalk in a marked cup-like socket; the pairs occur at right angles to each other.
The small flowers commonly have 5 petals apiece, but sometimes the number is scamped and they are contented with 4 instead; each petal is so deeply cleft as to give the appearance of being quite divided; the texture is thin enough to show the veins, the outer surface is glossy, and the color is white; the calyx has as many sharp-pointed divisions as there are petals, and is green; the 10 stamens are pale straw-color. The flowers form little groups on long stems which spring from the angles of the leaves in pairs.
After the manner of the Pinks this nice little plant sets a blossom between the fork of the main stems.
Common Chickweed. Stellaria media.
Blossoming around dwellings in spring, summer, and autumn.
Its weak-fibred stem, lopping over the ground, is green, and smooth, with a barely visible little line of hairs down one side.
The small oval leaves have entire edges, and a smooth surface; they grow in pairs and are of a full green color.
The 5 white petals of the small flower are so deeply notched as to look like 10 very narrow ones; they are shorter than the 5 green calyx divisions; the flowers grow singly on short foot-stems, from the leaf-angles.
The Chickweed is a common plant of the dooryard, but without the usual obnoxious habits of a “weed,—” it is unobtrusive in demeanor, and, the roots having but a slight hold on the ground, is easily removed where undesired. It is a natural weather-glass, and can be trusted not to open its starry eye when rain threatens. The “Hen’s Inheritance” is an English folk-name for this plant.
Long-Leaved Stitchwort. Stellaria longifolia.
Found blossoming in June, in the tall grasses of wet meadows.
This almost thread-like and weak-fibred stalk varies from 6 to 15 inches in height, and is branching and leafy, almost square, with somewhat roughened angles, and pale green color.
The long grass-like leaves are very taper-pointed at each end, thin, and smooth, and in color full green, paler underneath; they are set upon the stalk in pairs, at long intervals.
The flower is small; its 5 petals cleft so deeply as to give the appearance of double the number, very fine and delicate in texture, and pure white, the 5-parted spreading calyx being green, while the 10 silky thread-like stamens are white. The flowers, on long, slight stems, spring singly from the angles of the leaves.
A few-flowered fragile plant, with its tiny star-flowers and sparse flat leafage, this Stitchwort loves to grow among rank sedges and swamp grasses, from whose sturdy rectitude it may claim support and protection.
Sand Spurrey. Buda rubra.
Found on sandy barrens in blossom during June.
This very modest little plant is seldom more than 2 or 3 inches high, with its single, round, slender, and smooth stalk of a light green color, with red rings at the leaf-joints.
The small narrow leaf is entire, flat, a trifle thick in texture, and dusty green in color. The leaves occur in pairs that box the compass around the stalk in little groups, and sit very close together; a dry sheath encircles the stalk at their junction.
The very small flower has 5 scoop-shaped petals, fine in quality, and pale lilac inclining to pink in color, and several pale yellow stamens; its 5 calyx-parts are sometimes longer than its petals and are hairy, and gray-green, with pinkish tips. Two or three flowers occur on the top of the stalk.
Only one flower opens at a time, but the calyx splits apart and shows the color of the petals a day before the bud opens. This smallest of the Pinks grows in such sociable crowds in sandy spots as to form a thick carpet, very pretty to discover when its close green is starred with its tiny flowers.
Bouncing Bet. Saponaria officinalis.
Found on dry soil, by the wayside and in the fields, blossoming in July through September.
The large leafy stalk, which grows from 1 to 2 feet high, is stout, slightly rough, and noticeably enlarged at the joints. Its color is green, or more often a dark crimson.
The oval leaf, tapering at the tip, clasps the stalk at the foot; it is 3-ribbed and the middle-rib being a little short the blade is fulled to it on either side; it has a smooth surface, and is of a thick texture; the color is a grayish-green (usually dusty). The leaves are opposite in growth.
The flower is large, about 1 inch across, with 5 petals, broad and slightly notched at the top, and extended down into a narrow stem-like base, which is confined within the long cylindrical calyx; at the spread of the broad part of the petal are two little thread-like fringes. The color runs from white to pink, the 10 stamens are pale yellow, and the long, 5-notched calyx is a pale yellowish-green. The pistil divides at the tip into two curling spires.
Stocky and sturdy in growth, hearty and wholesome in nature, Bouncing Bet grows in great communities along the waysides, and railroad embankments; it is a little ragged in attire, owing to the habit the flowers have of drying up in the calyx. It looks its best under a gray sky.
| Night-Flowering Campion. | Silene noctiflora. |
| Gentlemen’s Hats (N. H.). |
Found along roadside thickets in July and August.
The sparingly leafy stalk branches in an angular fashion, and grows from 1 to 3 feet high; although stout, the branches are slender; it is round, hairy, and sticky to the touch; light green.
The large leaves are sometimes 3 inches long; near the foot they are oval in shape with a wavy edge, above they are long and narrow; the margins are entire, the surface hairy and gummy to the touch; green. They completely clasp the stalk and are united in pairs, the pairs being set at right angles to each other.
The 5 petals of the flower are deeply cleft; where they spread from the deep tube-shaped calyx, each is provided with a pair of little notched tags, which form a pretty crown about the throat of the flower; the texture of the corolla is thin and fine, and the color is pale pink, or white just tinted with rose; the pale, yellow-green calyx is 5-parted and elegantly ornamented with 10 branching ribs, or veins, of a darker color; it is sticky and hairy. The flowers are set on short stems in the angles of the leaves, in pairs usually, while a single blossom sits on a short stem, in the fork of the branches.
After blossoming the seed-box changes its shape to round, and becomes large, the calyx-tips folding together over its top, and the green pattern of the ribs showing more plainly. There is a faint sweet perfume about the flowers which may be only discovered at twilight or in a gray morning, for this is a night-blooming plant.
| Deptford Pink. | Dianthus Armeria. |
| Mountain Pink. |
Found from July till frost-time, in upland fields and pastures.
The slender, angular and jointed stalk is from 8 to 12 inches in height, occasionally branching, round, smooth and shining. In color dark green.
The leaf is long and narrow, with a strong midrib, an entire margin, thin, tough texture, and a downy surface; in color it is rather a dark and cool green. The leaves, as with all the pinks, clasp the stalk in pairs with a noticeable joint; the pairs occur at right angles to each other.
The 5 petals of the small flower are oblong with finely notched tips; they spread widely, and are of a fine smooth texture, and a deep rose-pink color, dotted with pale pink specks; the green calyx is tubular, 5-parted, and downy, and is enfolded by 4 narrow green bracts. The flowers occur in pairs, from the angles of the leaves, on short leafy stems.
Sometimes, but not often, two flowers are borne on the same stem; it has been observed that the flower-stems are of about equal length with the curving leaves from which they spring. The plant grows in charming jerks and slants, and like all its kin is neatly finished at the joints. An October walk seldom fails to discover a few of these bright-hued Pinks amidst the dying meadow grasses and bare growths of summer; if the seeds are then gathered and spring-sown in the home garden this hardy little plant will consent to cultivation.