164 THE FLOBAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



shaped downy leaves and very small pale yellow flowers, which are 

 quite destitute of fragrance. 



Amongst the more showy plants of the month due mention 

 must be made of the White Campion, Lynchnis dioica or L. vesper- 

 Una, which, though usually white, yet varies in colour considerably. 

 It is not only conspicuous by its bold habit and beauty, but is an 

 extremely interesting plant, because hypothetically as a member of 

 the Carnation family, the flowers should always contain both stamens 

 and pistils ; whereas we usually find the stamens in one flower and 

 the pistils in another. In the lauguage of botany the plant is 

 diaecious. Occasionally, however, both stamens and pistils occur in 

 the same flower. 



The Lychnis may be allowed to introduce us to the Carnation 

 family at large, and it is quite time to hunt for Wild Pinks, Catch- 

 flies, Corn-cockles, Pearlworts, Sandworts, and Stitchworts, though 

 many of them will be bright with flowers until September. The 

 Carnations and Pinks the florists cultivate are, generally speaking, 

 double flowers, which the botanists have the temerity to call 

 "monsters," in return for which compliment to their favourites the 

 florists pretend that all the beautiful flowers belong to themselves 

 and the ugly ones to the botanists. Well, the Wild Clove, Dianthus 

 caryophyllus, belongs to the botanists, certainly, and they need not 

 be ashamed of it on the score of beauty ; the florists, with all their 

 grand possessions, cannot beat it. It is the Clove Gilliflower, or 

 July flower of the old gardeners, and doubtless is the parent of the 

 Carnation and Picotees of the garden. It is probably not a true 

 native, but has found its way here from the continent, the southern 

 slopes of the Alps being, without doubt, its original home. Here 

 it is almost confined to the south-eastern parts of England, where it 

 seeks out for itself the grim castles and crumbling walls of the 

 oldest cities, the keep of Rochester Castle having long been famous 

 amongst English botanists for this glorious wilding and its boon 

 companion the Snapdragon. The Chedder or Mountain Pink, D. 

 ccesius, is a rare gem met with on the cliffs at Cheddar, in Somerset, 

 one of the best possible resorts for a botanical tourist. It is a sweet 

 little gem of a cheerful pink colour. The Soapwort, Saponaria 

 officinalis; the Corn-cockle, Agrostemma giihago ; and the stemless 

 Catchfly, Silene acaulis, may be found in the garden, perhaps, if 

 not in the field. But we shall scarcely find, under the care of the 

 cultivator, that somewhat coarse but handsome plant, the Bladder 

 Campion, Silene inflata, which the children might have been seen 

 eating the leaves of a month ago, when they tasted like green peas. 

 This maybe known by its pouch-like calyx. The Ragged Robin, or 

 Cuckoo-flower, Lychnis flos cuculi, you are so likely to know with- 

 out help from books, that it is mentioned here only because its 

 beauty forbids silence. 



But let us look for humbler relations of the Carnation than these. 

 The Great Stitchwort, or Satin flower, Stellaria holostea, has been 

 already referred to as one of the gems of the hedgerow. On the dry 

 pastures and heaths we may find its poor relation, the little Stitch- 

 wort, S. graminea, which has very narrow leaves, and pretty white 



