PARONYCHIACE. 465 
Tribe 4. Polycarpex.—Sepals distinct. Ovary sessile. Styles 
connate at the base. Stipules membranous. I/lustrative 
Genus:—Polycarpon, Linn. 
Distribution and Numbers.—They are natives chiefly of tem- 
perate and cold climates. When found in tropical regions they 
are generally on the sides and summits of mountains, commonly 
reaching the limits of eternal snow. The order contains nearly 
1,100 species. 
Properties and Uses.—The plants of this order pene no 
important properties. They are almost always insipid. Some 
of the wild species are eaten as food by small aerate and 
some have been said to increase the lacteal secretions of cows 
fed upon them. This is supposed to be the case more parti- 
cularly with Vaccarta vulgaris. Saponaria officinalis has been 
used in syphilis ; it contains a peculiar principle called saponin. 
This principle has also been found in species of Lychnis, Silene, 
Cucubalus ; and more especially in Gypsophila Struthiwm, to 
which latter plant it communicates well-marked saponaceous 
properties : hence it is commonly termed Egyptian Soap-root. 
The other species in which saponin is found also possess, to 
some extent, similar properties. Saponin is reputed to be 
poisonous in its nature. 
Some of the plants have showy flowers, as the species of 
Dianthus, Silene, and Lychivis: but they are generally insig- 
nificant weeds. Dianthus barbatus is the Sweet-William of our 
gardens; D. plumarius is the parent of all the cultivated 
varieties of the common Pink; and D. Caryophyllus, the 
Clove Pink, is the origin of the ‘Carnation and its cultivated 
varieties, which are commonly known as Picotees, Bizarres, 
and Flakes. 
The three following Orders have been variously placed by 
botanists, but they are closely allied to Caryophyllaceze, and we 
put them here following Bentham and Hooker, except that the 
Scleranthaceze are included by them in Paronychiacezx. 
Order 2. PaRONYCHIACE®, the Knotwort Order.—Cha- 
racter.—Herbs or shrubs, with entire, simple, alternate or 
opposite leaves, and membranous stipules. Flowers minute. 
Sepals 5, or rarely 3 or 4, distinct or more or less united. Petals 
small or absent, perigynous. Stamens somewhat hypogynous, 
either equal in number to the sepals and opposite to. them, or 
more numerous, or rarely fewer. Ovary superior, 1- or 3-celled ; 
styles 2—5. Fruit dry, 1- or 3-celled, dehiscent or indehiscent. 
Seeds either numerous upon a free central placenta, or solitary 
on a long funiculus arising from the base of the fruit; albumen 
farinaceous ; embryo curved. 
Distribution and Numbers.—Natives chiefly of barren places 
in the south of Europe and the north of Africa. Illustrative 
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