These three species of Stellaria, and, in fact, all the species of the genus, are distinguished by their divided petals and the presence of three styles; but there is another group of flowers in the same order known as the Mouse-ear Chickweeds (Cerastium), also with divided petals, but having either four or five styles.
The Chickweed.
Three of the species of this group may be included among the spring flowers of waysides. One of these is the Broad-leaved or Clustered Mouse-ear Chickweed (Cerastium glomeratum), which flowers from April to the end of the summer. It has an erect, sticky, hairy stem; and pale green ovate leaves. The little white flowers are tufted, on short stalks, with sepals and petals of equal length. A second—the Narrow-leaved Mouse-ear Chickweed (C. triviale)—has a similar but spreading stem; and the leaves are narrow, and of a deep green colour. In this one, too, the sepals and petals are equal; but the former are hairy, and the flower-stalks are longer. The other is the Field Mouse-ear Chickweed (C. arvense), which has numerous white flowers, in forked cymes, blooming from April to August. Its stem is hairy, prostrate, from six to ten inches long; the leaves very narrow; and the sepals only about half as long as the petals.
The Broad-Leaved Mouse-Ear Chickweed.
The pretty Wild Geraniums, of which there are several species, often form a very attractive feature of the wayside. They are readily recognised as a group by the swollen joints of their stems; the simple, stipuled, lobed leaves; the axillary flowers; and the fruit composed of five distinct carpels, with their five long styles adhering to a long central beak. The flowers have five distinct petals and sepals, and ten stamens, five of which become alternately larger. When the fruit is ripe the five carpels separate, and are raised by the curving of the smooth styles which remain for a time attached to the beak.
In early April, and from then to August or September, the Dove's-foot Crane's-bill (Geranium molle) may be seen in flower by the wayside. The plant is prostrate, soft and downy, with rounded leaves lobed and cut. The pretty pink or lilac flowers are from a third to half an inch in diameter, with abruptly-pointed sepals and notched petals. This species may be readily distinguished from similar plants of the same genus by the smooth, wrinkled capsules, and smooth seeds.
A second species—the Jagged-leaved Crane's-bill (G. dissectum)—is also very common in wastes and by waysides. It is a hairy, rather than a downy plant, with spreading stems from one to two feet long; and displays its bright red, shortly-stalked flowers from April to August. The flowers, which vary from a quarter to half an inch in diameter, have long-pointed sepals and notched petals.
