CARYOPHYLLACE^— PINK FAMILY 



WHITE CAMPION. EVENING LYCHNIS. 

 NIGHT-FLOWERING CAMPION 



Lychnis alba. Lychnis noctiflora 



Lychnis, Greek, meaning lamp, in allusion to the flame- 

 colored flowers of some species. 



Biennial, naturalized from Europe. A sticky-leaved 

 plant, two or three feet high, opening its white flowers 

 in the afternoon and closing during the next morning. 

 New England and Middle West. June-August. 



Root. — Thick, fleshy. 



Stem. — One to three feet high, densely covered with 

 short viscid hairs, freely branching, dark green, reddish 

 at the junction of stem and branch. 



Leaves. — Opposite, ovate-lanceolate; margin entire, apex 

 pointed; densely hairy; lower leaves tapering to margined 

 petioles, upper ones sessile. 



Flowers. — White or tinged with pink, in loose panicles, 

 dioecious, more or less fragrant, each about an inch across, 

 opening at evening or on dull days and closing after sun- 

 rise the next morning. 



Calyx. — An inflated hairy cup, many-ribbed, dark green, 

 often stained along the ribs with maroon-crimson, with 

 five pointed lobes, densely viscid-hairy. Ribs usually ten. 

 Fertile cups much inflated by the growing capsule. 



Corolla. — Of five long-clawed petals, white, each deeply 

 notched at the border and at the inner point bearing a 

 pair of white petal-like bracts, which together with those 

 of the other petals make a tiny corona at the throat of 

 the flower. 



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