STICHWORT, in botany: A genus of plants belonging to the class of decandria, and order of trigynia; and in the natural system arranged under the 22d order, Caryophyllaceae. The calyx is pentaphylous and spreading. There are five petals, each divided into two segments. The capsule is oval, unilocular, and polyperforous. There are nine species, the nemorum, dichotoma, radians, hololea, graminea, ceratoides, undulata, biflora, and arenaria. Three of these are British plants. 1. Nemorum, broad-leaved stichwort. The stalks are about a foot or eighteen inches high, and branched in a panicle at the top. The leaves are heart-shaped, and of a paler green on the under than on the upper side; the lower ones being supported by footstalks which are hairy and channelled; the upper ones are sessile. The calyx is erect, somewhat hairy and white on the margins. The petals are bifid almost to the base. There is a small nectarium between the longer stamens and the calyx.—2. Hololea, greater stichwort. The stalks are about two feet long; the petals are nearly twice the length of the calyx, and divided half-way to the base. It is common in woods and hedges.—3. Graminea, leaf stichwort. The stem is near a foot high. The leaves are linear and entire, and the flowers grow in loose panicles. It is frequent in dry pastures. There is a variety of this species called bog stichwort, with smooth, oval, sessile leaves, and few leaves, which grows often in wet marshy places. The stalk is quadrangular; the petals scarcely longer than the calyx, and bifid to the base.