8 CARYOPHYLLACEAE. (Vor. IT. 
3; SILENE L. Sp: Plivar6.” 2753: 
Annual or perennial herbs, with clustered or solitary, mainly pink red or white flowers. 
Calyx more or less inflated, tubular, ovoid or campanulate, 5-toothed or 5-cleft, 1o-many- 
nerved, not bracted at the base. Petals 5, narrow, clawed. Stamens to. Styles 3 (rarely 4 
or 5); ovary 1-celled, or incompletely 2-4-celled. Pod dehiscent by 6 or rarely 3 apical teeth. 
Seeds mainly spiny or tubercled. [Greek, saliva, in allusion to the viscid secretions of 
many species ] 
About 250 species of wide geographic distribution. In addition to the following, some 35 
others occur in the southern and western parts of the continent. 
Dwarf, arctic-alpine; flowers solitary. : F . 1. S. acaulis. 
Erect or ascending herbs; flowers clustered (sometimes solitary in nos. 3-7). 
Leaves or some of them verticillate in 4’s. 2. S. stellata. 
Leaves all opposite. 
Calyx much inflated and bladdery. 
Flowers few, leafy-bracted. 3. S. alba. 
Flowers numerous, in leafless cymes. 4. S. vulgaris. 
Calyx merely expanded by the ripening pod. 
Flowers cymose or paniculate. 
Day-blooming; flowers rarely white, mostly pink or red. 
Perennials, more or less viscid-pubescent. 
Petals 2-cleft, 2-lobed, or irregularly incised, scarlet or crimson. 
Leaves lanceolate or spatulate; flowers numerous. 
Flowers in slender panicles, nodding. 5. S. nutans. 
Flowers in terminal cymes, erect. 6. S. Virginica. 
Leaves broadly oval; flowers few or solitary. 7. S. rotundifolia. 
Petals erose, entire, or emarginate. 
Petals scarlet; plant 3°-4° tall. 8. S. regia. 
Petals pink; plant 4’-10' high. g. S. Caroliniana. 
Annuals, glutinous at or below the nodes. 
Calyx ovoid; flowers small, paniculate. 10. S. antirrhina. 
Calyx club-shaped; flowers large, cymose. 11. S. Armeria. 
Night-blooming; flowers large, white. 12. S. noctiflora. 
Flowers spicate or racemose, short-pedicelled. 
Spicate raceme simple; flowers small. 13. S. Anglica. 
Raceme forked; flowers 6''-8'' broad. 14. S. dichotoma. 
Flowers axillary and terminal, slender-pedicelled; western. 15. S. Menziesti. 
1. Silene acaulis L. Moss Campion. (Fig.1440. ) 
Silene acaulis U,. Sp. Pl. Ed. 2, 603. 1762. 
Perennial, puberulent or glabrous, branched, densely 
tufted, 1/-3’ high. Leaves sessile, crowded, linear, 4//-6/’ 
long, about 14’’ wide, obtuse or acutish at the apex, the 
margins ciliate-serrulate; flowers solitary at the ends of the 
branches, sessile or slender-peduncled, 4’’-6’’ broad, purple 
or purplish; calyx campanulate, glabrous, 4’’ high; petals 
entire or emarginate, with a scale at the base of the blade; 
pod oblong, equalling or exceeding the calyx. 
Summits of the White Mountains, N. H.; Gaspé, Quebec; Cape 
Breton Island, Labrador and throughout arctic America, south in 
the higher Rocky Mountains to Arizona. Also in arctic and 
alpine Europe and Asia. Called also Cushion Pink. Summer. 
2. Silene stellata (L.) Ait. Starry Cam- — 
pion. (Fig. 1441.) 
Cucubalus stellatus I,. Sp. Pl. 414. _ 1753. 
Stlene stellata Ait. f. Hort. Kew. 3:84. 1811. 
Perennial, erect, 2°-314° high, densely and min- 
utely rough-pubescent throughout. Leaves ovate- 
lanceolate, acuminate, 2’-4’ long, 14’-1/ wide, ver- 
ticillate in 4’s or the lowest opposite, their margins 
finely ciliate; flowers white, 7’’—10’’ broad, in pani- 
cled cymes, forming a large showy inflorescence; 
calyx campanulate, inflated, 7’’-8’’ high, its teeth 
triangular, acute; petals crownless, fimbriate, about 
equalling the stamens; pod globose-ovoid, about 
the length of the calyx. : 
A : oe 
In woods, Rhode Island to Niagara and Minnesota, ———.. ey 
south to South Carolina and Arkansas. June-Aug. s 
Silene ovata Pursh, which has the habit of this spe- eA | 
cies but the leaves opposite, is recorded by Pursh from 
“the western parts of Virginia and Carolina,’’ but is not definitely known from Virginia. 
