SILENE. 



of 6 inches or so, prostrate on the ground, are pretty enough with their 

 large crimpled white blossoms, vet they lack refinement and effect. 

 Nurseries advertise a rosea form, which has flowers of a dim and 

 washy magenta-pallor. And there is also a double form which has 

 the untidy fatness of the border Pink, Mrs. Sinkins. 



S. monachorum is a tiny variety of S. quadrijida, from cool rocks 

 of the Balkans, where it sends up its little white galaxies all through the 

 summer on stems of 2 inches. 



S. Moorcroftiana is an Indian species, emitting stems of some 12 or 

 18 inches, from a woody stock. It has no value. 



S. multicaulis has long tapering narrow foliage, and forms itself 

 into grey tufts, from which arise many stems of 8 inches or a foot, 

 carrying either one solitary pink flower, or else two or three in a short 

 spray at the top. (It is general in the Rockies.) 



S. nevadensis lives in high crevices, and is like a dwarf S. italica. 



S. norica is a local development of S. acaulis, without much 

 distinct value. 



S. odontopetala forms dense rosetted tufts in the sheer rock-walls 

 of Lebanon and the Levant, from which, springing below the rosettes, 

 come stems of 6 or 8 inches, more or less (for the type is most variable), 

 bearing white stars in July. 



S. olympica belongs to the kindred of S. dianthoeides, growing in a 

 mat, with clustered white flowers on a rather taller stem. 



S. oreades comes close under the shadow of S. Saxifraga, q.v. 



S. Orphanidis emerges from it handsomely. For, though a wide 

 loose tuft and cushioned mass of small fine foliage like S. Saxifraga, 

 the countless flowers on their delicate stems of 10 inches or so are 

 larger and whiter and more attractive. (It lives in the summits of 

 Athos.) 



S. parnassica is a yet taller-stemmed plant in the way of S. Saxifraga, 

 with stalks of 8 inches or so. 



S. pennsylvanicak&s the basal leaves nearly hairless, spatulate, and 

 tapering to a hairy foot -stalk. The stems are half a foot high or 

 thereabouts, carrying clustered pink flowers from April to June. 



S. petraea—S. alpestris, q.v. 



S. pJiarnaceifolia is cluster-headed above a close cushion, with white 

 flowers on stems of 4 inches, in July. 



S. pudibunda. See under S. quadrijida. 



S. pumilio has gone away into Saponaria, q.v. 



S. pungens makes dense turrets in the sheer cliffs of Armenia, and 

 has white flowers on stalks of half a foot. 



S. pusilla is a most dainty, lovely species for a cool corner on the 



363 



