CARYOPHYLLACEAE. VOL. II. 



1 6. Silene Menziesii Hook. Menzies' Pink. 

 Fig. 1816. 



Silene Menziesii Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. i : 90. pi. jo. 1830. 



Perennial, slender, ascending or decumbent, leafy, 

 widely branching, minutely and densely glandular- 

 pubescent, 6'-i8' high. Leaves sessile, or the low- 

 est narrowed into a petiole, oval, ovate-lanceolate 

 or slightly oblanceolate, acute or acuminate at each 

 end, minutely ciliate on the margins, i'-2j' long; 

 flowers axillary and terminal, numerous, slender- 

 pcduncled, white, 4"-5" long ; petals 2-cleft, crown- 

 less, longer than the 5-toothed calyx ; capsule about 

 the length of the calyx; seeds black, minutely tu- 

 berculate. 



In damp soil, Assiniboia to western Nebraska, Mis- 

 souri, British Columbia, California and New Mexico. 

 June-Aug. 



4. LYCHNIS [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 436. 1753. 



Herbs, mainly erect, some with the aspect of Silene. Calyx ovoid, tubular, or inflated, 

 5-toothed, lo-nerved. Petals 5, narrowly clawed, the blade entire, 2-cleft, or laciniate, gener- 

 ally crowned. Stamens 10. Ovary i-celled or incompletely several-celled at the basej many- 

 ovuled; styles 5, opposite the calyx-teeth (occasionally 4 or rarely even 3). Capsule dehis- 

 cent by 10 or fewer apical teeth or valves. [From the Greek, for lamp, in allusion to the 

 flame-colored flowers of some species.] 



A genus of about 35 species, natives of the north temperate and arctic zones. In addition to 

 the following about 8 others occur in the northern and western parts of North America. Type 

 species : Lychnis chalcedonica L. 



Calyx-teeth not twisted ; plants pubescent, glandular or glabrate. 



Flowers cymose or panicled ; calyx enlarged by the ripening pod. 



Fruiting calyx much enlarged, ovoid, obovoid or globose. 



Plants viscid-pubescent ; flowers usually dioecious. 



Flowers white or pink, opening in the evening. i. L.alba. 



Flowers red, opening in the morning. 2. L. dioica. 



Plant roughish-pubescent ; flowers perfect, scarlet. 3. L. chalcedonica. 



Fruiting calyx campanulate or tubular. 



Petals large, deeply laciniate ; introduced species. 4. L. Flos-cuculi. 



Petals small, entire or emarginate ; native western species. 5. L. Drnmmondii. 



Flowers solitary ; calyx inflated ; plants arctic-alpine. 



Flower nodding ; pod erect. 6. L. apetala. 



Flower and pod erect or nearly so. 7- L. affinis. 



Calyx-teeth twisted ; plant densely white-woolly all over. 8. L. Coronaria. 



i. Lychnis alba Mill. White Campion. 

 Evening Lychnis. Fig. 1817. 



Lychnis alba Mill. Card. Diet. Ed. 8, no. 4. 1768. 

 Lychnis vespertina Sibth. Fl. Oxon. 146. 1794. 



Biennial, viscid-pubescent, loosely and freely 

 branching, i-2 high. Leaves ovate-oblong or 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute, i'~3' long, the lower 

 tapering into a margined petiole, the upper 

 sessile ; flowers few, loosely paniculate, 9"-i2" 

 broad, white or pinkish, opening at dusk and 

 remaining open into the morning of the next 

 day, slightly fragrant, often dioecious ; calyx at 

 first tubular, 6"-o/' long, about 2" wide, swell- 

 ing with the ripening pod so as to become ovoid 

 and 6"-7" in diameter, its teeth short, lanceo- 

 late ; petals obovate, 2-cleft, crowned ; teeth of 

 the capsule 2-cleft, nearly erect. 



In waste places and on ballast, Nova Scotia to On- 

 tario, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. Ad- 

 ventive or naturalized from Europe. Snake-, cuckoo- 

 or thunder-flower. Bull- or cow-rattle. White-robin. 

 Summer. 



