Lychnis aspera. Poir. Encycl. Bot. Suppl. v. 3. p. 537. 

 Lychnis oculata. James Backhouse in litt. 

 Lychnis Cceli-Rosa. De Cand. Prodr. 1. p. 386. 

 Vise aria oculata. Lindl. Bot. Reg. 1843, tab. 53. 



Professor Lindley and Mr. Backhouse have rightly 

 judged this to be a distinct species of Lychnis, or, as the 

 group is now called, Viscaria, from L. Cceli-Rosa figured 

 at Tab. 296 of this work. It is a native of the North 

 coast of Africa, and seeds were received by Mr. James 

 Backhouse of the York Nursery, which produced such beau- 

 tiful flowers that attention was immediately directed to the 

 plant, and it has become a great favorite in our gardens 

 Native specimens are in my Herbarium from Bove, gathered 

 at Algiers, and marked (n. 108) without any further note or 

 comment: and I have, besides, in the Herbarium of Pro- 

 fessor Gouan another native specimen, with his own MS 

 remark. " Di versa forsan ab Agr. Cceli-Rosa calycibus 

 magis torulosis, angulis crispis et veluti calloso-rugosis 

 E Numidia." It was gathered in Barbary by Poiret. and 

 though doubtful whether it should be considered a species, 

 or a variety, he gave it the provisional name of aspera, 

 which should be retained, although that of oculata is per- 

 haps more appropriate. It will be seen that not only are 

 the furrows of the calyx in this species wrinkled, as in V. 

 Cceli-Rosa, but the angles themselves are remarkably so, and 

 puckered transversely : the other characters mentioned by 

 Dr. Lindley are equally constant, the sudden contraction 

 of the calyx below the middle, the short notch on the 

 petals, the fine dark eye at the base instead of the pale and 

 almost white of the old species, and which gives such a 

 lively appearance to our plant, the short and broad appen- 

 dage (corona) to the claws and the dotted capsule. It 

 blossoms in the summer and autumn months, and may be 

 treated as a hardy annual : but the late flowers become 

 paler and smaller in size 



Fig. 1. Stamens and Pistil. 2. PetaJ. 3. Immature Capsule :— mag- 

 nified. 



