SILENE. 



fine, and most graceful in their slender port and multitudes, each 

 carrying an erect, notch -petalled flower, of middling size and of a 

 dim greenish-white, with a dirty reverse of brownish tone. It is quite 

 easy to raise and grow, and has a certain daintiness rather than any 

 brilliancy of show or charm. 



S. Scluifta is perhaps one of the rock-garden's greatest assets in late 

 summer and autumn, when the profuse leafy tufts and wide masses of 

 4 or 5 inches are covered for months on end with the profusion 

 of its large rosy-magenta flowers in dark calyces. So lavishly does 

 it grow, indeed, and so riotously bloom, that it loses the refined air of 

 endurance which ought to be associated with an alpine perennial, and 

 takes on the look of some bedding annual, ebullient in blossom because 

 ephemeral. And there is something a little crude and un-alpine too 

 about the lushness of its leafage. It is, however, a plant of the easiest 

 culture anywhere, and free of seed ; so that, with its free and tardy 

 flowering habit, it becomes a species of high value. 



S. Sendtneri has whitish blossoms, on stems of 10 inches or a foot, 

 in July. 



S. Smithii is a tufted mass in the way of S. Saxifraga. This is 

 Saponaria caespitosa of the Flora Graeca. 



S. spathulata hangs unattainable in the cliffs of the Ossetian Cau- 

 casus, in little densely sticky tufts, from which come stems of 2 inches 

 or so, each bearing three large flowers of bright rose-purple, with the 

 petals deeply cloven. 



8. stellata=S. ciliata, q.v. 



S. subulata, like S. stentoria and S. rhyncocephala, is a dwarf of no 

 value, with tiny flowers. 



S. tatarica= Lychnis viscaria alba nana. 



S. tejedensis comes nearest to S. Boryi, but is hoar-frosted with 

 sticky greyness all over. 



S. vallesia is another interesting type, which may be found running 

 in the warm granitic crevices of the Cottian and Maritime Alps, &c. — 

 a local species, though of wide distribution. It is quite dwarf, with 

 rather large paired leaves, oval-pointed and very sticky, of light but 

 dull green colour, and soft lax texture — not so much gathering into 

 masses as a rule, but emerging in little low shoots of an inch or two 

 along the cracks of the rock. The whole growth has a robust and rather 

 lush look, and the flowers are borne on leafy stems 3 or 4 inches long, 

 and often much less, two or three to the spray, or sometimes only one. 

 The fatness of the long calyx gives high hope of the blossoms, but 

 such optimism goes unrewarded, for these, when they do unfurl 

 (which they do not properly do except at evening), though rather 



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