OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 131 



S. NOCTUKNA, L., although credited to this country by Torr. & Gray 

 and by various subsequent authors, is not represented from America in 

 the leading herbaria of the country. Most if not all of the specimens 

 referred here are either 5. Gallica or S. noctijiora. 



— ■>- Inflorescence dichotomously racemose. 



S. DiciiOTOM-A, Ehrh. Tall, more or less hirsute and viscid : root 

 annual or biennial : leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate : flowers short- 

 pedicelled or subsessile, larger than in the preceding, \ inch in 

 diameter: petals white or roseate, the blade obovate, more or less 

 deeply bifid : calyx cylindric in anthesis, becoming ovate in fruit, the 

 prominent green nerves strictly simple, hirsute. — Beitr. vii. 143. 

 Reichb. 1. c. vi. t. 280. — A European species somewhat intermediate 

 between S. Gallica and S. noctijiora ; ballast and waste land, Phil- 

 adelphia, Martindale ; Trenton, Volk ; Texas, Nealley. The form 

 RACEJiosA, Rohrb., S. racemosa, Otth in DC. Prodr. i. 384, with more 

 pubescent leaves tending to be clustered about the base has been found 

 by Prof. Gree?ie sparingly introduced in fields about Berkeley, Cal. 

 Fl. Francis, i. 116. 



■>-■*-■*- Inflorescence cymose or paniculate, not distinctly racemose. 

 ++ Calyx equally and conspicuously 20-25-nerved. 



S. multinervia, Wats. Erect, a foot high, pubescent throughout 

 and somewhat viscid-glandular above : leaves narrowly oblong or lin- 

 ear, acute : inflorescence cymose with unequal branches : calyx ovate 

 in fruit, contracted above, 5 lines long : petals small, purplish, unap- 

 pendaged, not exceeding the subulate spreading calyx teeth : capsule 

 narrowly ovate. — Proc. Am. Acad. xxv. 12G ; Zoe, i. 254. — South- 

 ern California, near Jamuel, Orcutt ; island of Santa Cruz, Brandegee ; 

 Santa Monico Range, Hasse. This anomalous species is strongly 

 characterized among indigenous Silenes by its many-nerved calyx, 

 which places it in the Mediterranean § Conosilene. The California 

 botanists are inclined to regard it as an introduced plant, and David- 

 son, in Erythea, i. 58, erroneously reduces it to S. conoidea, of the Old 

 World, a species which differs in its larger flowers, longer and more 

 attenuate calyx teeth, and long-necked flask-shaped capsules. 



■*-*■ *+ Calyx iO-nerved. 

 = Viscid-pubescent or hirsute. 



S. NOCTiFLORA, L. A coarse species a foot or two in height with 

 lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate leaves 2-3 inches long : flowers usually 

 few in loose cymes, fragrant : calyx large, in fruit ovoid, white with 

 green nerves tending to anastomose : the teeth attenuate : petals bifid. 

 — Spec. 419 ; Eng. Bot. v. t. 291 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 192 ; Gray's 



