36 ALIEN FLORA OF BRITAIN 



Lychnis alba, Mill. One of those species under which 

 the designation " native " in most of our Floras is fol- 

 lowed by such unconvincing habitats as cornfields, 

 hedgerows, &c. It is native in woods and on bushy 

 hillsides in most of Europe, but in Normandy, Holland, 

 and Belgium, as well as in Britain, its records are those 

 of a weed supported by man. 



Lychnis coronaria, Desv. A native of stony pastures 

 in the mountains of Southern Europe, which has long 

 been cultivated in gardens, and has been recorded as 

 an escape in a few places in Britain. It has a similar 

 origin in the United States. 



Lychnis GithagO, Scop. An almost universal corn- 

 field weed, and common in most parts of Britain. Its 

 origin is very doubtful, but, as Lindemann records it 

 ^' in segetibus et in deserto " {Fi. Chers. 94), it may be 

 native in South-East Europe. 



Sagina Reuteri, Boiss. Mr. Tovvndrow, in the Journal 

 of Botany, 1897, p. 409, summarises all that is known 

 of this species as a British plant. It was found by 

 him in three places in Herefordshire, in all cases growing 

 in artificial habitats. In Britain, it cannot therefore be 

 said to be known in a native state, but as it is most 

 unlikely that it has been introduced from its only other 

 known station in Central Spain, we must hope that 

 its discovery in natural surroundings will soon add it 

 to our indigenous list. 



[Saponaria officinalis, L. This species is common in 

 the greater part of Europe, but is more obviously native 

 in the woods and on the grassy hillsides of the eastern 



