130 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



obovate retuse blade, white or pink, often double. — Spec. 408 ; Eng. 

 Bot. xv. t. 1060; Pursh. Fl. 314; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 195. — Road- 

 sides and waste ground, common ; July to the end of October. 

 (Naturalized from Europe.) 



5. SILENE, L. Catchflt, Campion. (Name from SeiAip/os, in 

 reference to the viscid excretion of many species, the Greek god having 

 been described as covered with foam ; also derived directly from a-taXov, 

 saliva.) — A large genus of attractive plants inhabiting chiefly the 

 northern temperate parts of the Old World, but also well represented 

 in North America, especially in the Pacific region, where it has 

 lately been necessary to increase considerably the number of species. 

 Although the members of the genus present considerable diversity of 

 habit and floral characters, yet they do not fall into well marked 

 groups and the elaborate subdivision of the genus suggested by Rohr- 

 bach cannot be satisfactorily carried out among our American species. 

 — Gen. n. 372 ; Otth in DC. Prodr. i. 367 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 189 ; 

 Fenzl in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. i. 303 ; Reichb. Icon. Fl. Germ. vi. t 269- 

 301 ; Benth. & Hook. Gen. i. 147; Rohrb. Monog. der Gatt. Silene ; 

 Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. x. 340, & Bibl. Index, 106. 



* Annuals, mostly introduced, 

 -i- Inflorescence simply racemose, or subspicate ; pedicels solitary. 



S. Gallica, L. Stem hirsute with white jointed hairs : leaves 

 spatulate, obtuse, mucronate, hirsute-pubescent on both sides, 8-18 

 lines in length : racemes terminal, one-sided, 2-4 inches long : flowers 

 more or less pedicellate : calyx 10-nerved, villous-hirsute, slender and 

 subcylindric in anthesis, becoming in fruit broadly ovoid, wi.th con- 

 tracted orifice and short narrow spreading teeth : petals usually little 

 exceeding the calyx ; the blade obovate, somewhat bifid, toothed or 

 entire. — Spec. 417; Cham. & Schlecht. Linnasa, i. 40 ; Rohrb. 1. c. 

 96. S. Anglica, L. 1. c. 416. — Apparently of European origin but 

 now cosmopolitan ; locally common on the Pacific slope from British 

 Columbia to Lower California ; occasionally in cultivated fields in the 

 Atlantic States; April-July. The typical form has very short ascend- 

 ing pedicels and white or pink flowers. S. Lusitanica, L. 1. c. 416, 

 is a form with the lower pedicels elongated, equalling or exceeding 

 the calyx, and becoming horizontal in fruit. Tolon, Calif., Brandegee. 

 (Europe.) 



"Var. qdinquevulnera, Koch. Petals more showy, subentire, 

 deep crimson with a white or pink border. — Synop. Fl. Germ, et Helv. 

 100. S. quinquevulnera, L. 1. c. 416. — With the typical form. 



