SiLENALES. 



CARYOPHYLLACE^. 



497 



These plants, the greater part of which are inconspicuous herbs, fonn a group which 

 is readily known by its opposite vmdi\^ded leaves \\ithout stipules, tumid nodes, and free 

 central placenta surrounded by several carpellary leaves. They hardly differ from 

 Purslanes except in their symmetrical flowers. In general appearance they nearly 

 approach some of the species of the Geranial AlUance, from which their fi'ee central 

 placenta clearly divides them. That this placenta is really central in its oi'igin is proved 

 by a beautiful monstrosity discovered by Mr. Babington, and pubUshed by hira in the 

 Oavde>\€rs' Chronicle, for 1844, p. 557, in which the carpellary leaves are partially 

 turned inwards ^nthout touch- 

 ing the placenta, which beai's 

 a cluster of o\'ules and is per- 

 fectly clear of all connection 

 ^vith those partitions. There is a 

 learned and important Memoir 

 on these plants by Braun 

 (^Ann. Sc. n. s. xx. 156), to which 

 the reader is referred for 

 valuable details as to the limits 

 of the genera. 



In the succeeding Table of Ge- 

 nera, Silenese and Alsineae are 

 what all Botanists recognise as 

 Cloveworts ; the Mollugineae 

 consist of a portion of the Purs- 

 lane tribe as it stands in Endli- 

 cher's Genera Plantarum, where 

 it is broken up into Polpodese 

 and Adenogrammeae, sections 

 which it is scarcely desirable to 

 maintain. The reasons which 

 have led to this separation are 

 given under the Order of Purs- 

 lanes. 



Natives principally of the 

 temperate and frigid parts of the 

 world, where they inhal^it moun- 

 tains, hedges, rocks, and waste 

 places. Those which are found 

 within the tropics are usually 



met with on high elevations and mountainous tracts, almost always reaching the limits of 

 eternal snow, where many of them exclusively vegetate. Some Silenes are scattered 

 in many different parts of the globe. According to the calculation of Humboldt, Clove- 

 worts constitute ^ of the flowering plants of France, ^ of Germany, -^^ of Lapland, 

 and ^ of North America. 



The species are remarkable for little except their vmiform insipidity. A few, such as 

 Dianthus and Lychnis, are handsome flowers ; but the greater part are mere weeds. 

 Vaccaria vulgaris is said to increase the lacteal ^cretions of cows fed upon it. It con- 

 tains Saponine, as also does the Egyptian Soap-root, which is derived from Gypsophila 

 Struthium. — Bley. Lychnis dioica, and L. chalcedonica, have also saponaceous proper- 

 ties : Saponaria has been used in syphilis. A decoction of the root of Silene virghiica 

 is said to have been employed in North America as an anthelmintic. Spurrey, Spergula 

 arvensis, is sometimes cultivated as food for sheep. Gypsophila Struthium is somewhat 

 acrid ; Silene Otites, which is bitter and astringent, has been employed m di'opsy. The 

 seeds of Vaccaria vulgaris are said to be diuretic ; those of Agrostemma Githago (the 

 Corn-cockle), are reported to render com vmwholesome, when ground into flour. 



Fig. CCCXLI. 



GENERA. 



Suborder I. Alsine^. — 

 Sepals distinct, oppo- 

 site the stamens, when 

 the latter are of the 

 same number. 



Sagina, Linn. 



Phaloe, Dumort. 



Alsinella, Dill. 

 Buffonia, Sauva{j, 



Bu/onia, Linn. 

 Queria, Lqfff. 

 Alsine, Wahlenb. 



Neumayera, Rchb. 



Facchinia, Rchb. 

 Wierzbickia, Rchb. 

 Minuartia, Loffl. 

 Tryphane, Fenzl. 

 Sommerauera , Hopp. 

 Siebera, Schrad. 

 Diifourea, Gren. part. 



Calalsitie, Endl. 

 Sabitlina, R eichenb. 

 Cherleria, Hall. 

 Satjinella, Fenzl. 

 Spertjella, Fenzl. 

 Alsinanlhe, Fenzl. 

 Alsinocarpus, Endl. 



Fig. CCCXLI.— 1. Monstrous flower of a Cerastium ; 2. the pistil and stamens separate ; 3. the 

 ovary forced open to show the origin of the ovules and the nature of the imperfect dissepiments ; 4. a 

 monstrous ovule. 



K K 



