PINK FAMILY CARYOPHYLLACEAE 
WHITE CAMPION 
Lychnis alba Mill. 
This casual immigrant from the Old world is a biennial 
which grows 1-2 feet tall and is usually much branched. It is 
found in waste places from Nova Scotia to Ontario, Pennsyl- 
vania, Minnesota and southwestward, 
and blooms during summer months. 
The whole plant is covered with 
glandular hairs so that it is very viscid 
or sticky. The leaves are opposite and 
the lower ones taper into margined 
petioles, whereas the upper are sessile 
as shown. 
The white or pinkish, and often 
dioecious flowers are somewhat fragrant, 
opening in the evening and remaining 
open during the morning hours of the 
next day. They greatly resemble the 
Ragged Robin of our gardens, Lychnis 
Flos-cuculi L., save that the latter are 
much more deeply cleft. The staminate 
flowers contain Io stamens, and the 
pistil of a pistillate flower consists of a 
rather large ovary and § styles. The 
white, 2-lobed petals are con- 
spicuously crowned at the place 
of bending. The 5-toothed calyx 
is tubular and becomes much en- 
larged as the fruit matures. The 
capsule contains many seeds and 
opens by 5 2-lobed teeth. 
The Mullein Pink, Lychnis coronaria (L.) Desr., is a showy plant 
16-36 inches high and white woolly. It is often cultivated. The 
large crimson petals and twisted calyx teeth distinguish it from the 
White Campion. Though this plant is abundant in southwestern 
Michigan, official records of its having been found in Illinois are 
meager. It isa perennial herb that has been introduced from Europe 
and is now distributed from Maine to Michigan, and has also been 
reported from the Pacific coast. 
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