SILENE VIRGINICA. 



VIRGINIAN CATCHFLY. 



NATURAL ORDER, CARVCM'lIVLLACE.^j;. 



SiLF.NE VIRGINICA, Linnaeus. — Clammy-pubescent; leaves abruptly pointed, the lowest ones 

 clustered, spatulate-obovatc, on fringed petioles, the upper small, remote, lanceolate, ses- 

 sile; cymes loosely fcw-dowercd; calj'x tubular-club-shaped, oblong and nodding in fruit; 

 petals crimson, lanceolate, two-cleft. Stems one to two feet high. Flowers one inch wide. 

 {ChAfm:iWs, F,'ora c///:e Soiit/tcrn Unilcd Stales. See also Gray's Manual of the Botany 

 of the N'orthctn Unilcd Slates, and Wood's Class-Book cf Botany.) 



HE genus Silcne furnishes us with an interesting col- 

 lection of plants, many of which are commonly known 

 as " Catchflies." The home of these plants is in the cool or tem- 

 perate parts of the world, and quite a number of them are 

 natives of the United States, where they arc about equally 

 divided between the Atlantic and Pacific slopes of the conti- 

 nent. 



The name Silcne is an ancient one, and Linnceus simply 

 adopted it when he constructed his system of botany. Of the 

 several attempts made to explain it, we shall mention only one, 

 as it is quite suggestive in connection with the English name 

 Catchfly. According to the opinion of Dr. Asa Gray and 

 other American botanists, Silcne is derived from the Greek 

 sialon, saliva, and this designation was chosen because many of 

 the species have a viscid exudation on the stems and calyx. To 

 this exudation the common name, Catchfly, is also due. In 

 the quaint language of Gerarde, one of the earliest known writ- 

 ers on English gardening: " If you touch [the plant] or take [it] 

 on your fingers, the viscousness is such that your fingers will 

 stick and cleave together, as if you had touched bird lime. If 



