38 THALAMIFLOR^ 



Natural Order XIV 



CARYOPHYLLACE.E. The Pink .ribe 



Sepals 5 or 4, distinct, or connected into a tube; petals equal in 

 jumber to the sepals ; stamens usually twice as many as, sometimes 

 equalling, the petals, and like them inserted on the stalk or ring of 

 the ovary ; ovary I, raised on a short stalk, or inserted in a ring ; 

 styles 2-5, each with a stigma running along its inner side ; capsule 

 1 or imperfectly 2-5-celled, opening by as many or twice as many 

 teeth, or valves, as there are styles ; seeds inserted on a central 

 column. An extensive and well-marked order of herbaceous 

 plants, habitating the temperate and frigid regions of the globe, 

 particularly the northern hemisphere. The stems are swollen at 

 the joints ; the leaves always opposite and undivided, and fre- 

 quently of a glaucous hue. Among garden flowers, the Pink, 

 Carnation, Sweet William, and Scarlet Lychnis, all belonging to 

 this order, are well known ; and our hedges are much indebted 

 for their showy appearance in spring to the great White Stitchwort, 

 and in summer to the Red and White Robin. Botanists have 

 distributed the plants of this Order into two groups or sub-orders. 



Sub-order I. Silene^e. Pink Tribe 



Sepals connected into a tube. 



1. Dianthus (Pink). Calyx with 2 or more opposite scales at 

 the base outside ; styles 2 ; capsule i-celled, opening at the top 

 with 4 valves ; seeds flattened. (Name in Greek signifying 

 the flower of Jupiter, from its beauty and fragrance.) 



2. Saponaria (Soapwort). Calyx without scales at the base ; 

 styles 2 ; capstili i-celled, opening at the top with 4 valves ; seeds 

 rounded. (Nam 2 from sapo, soap, the plant abounding in soapy 

 juice.) 



3. Silene (Catchfly). Petals generally crowned at the top of 

 the claw ; styles 3 ; capsule imperfectly 3-celled, opening at the 

 top with 6 valves. (Name of doubtful origin. The English name 

 was given in consequence of flies being often caught in the viscid 

 9uid which, in some species, surrounds parts of the stem, a pro- 

 vision against insects crawling up to the flowers for the honey, 

 without effecting the cross fertilization which is essential for the 

 formation of seeds. The pollen is carried by a winged insect.) 



4. Lychnis (Campion). Styles 5, occasionally 4 ; capsule 

 i-celled, imperfectly divided into 5 cells, opening at the top with 

 5 or 10 teeth. (Name from the Greek, lychnos, a lamp; "the 

 thick cottony substance on the leaves of some species, or some 

 similar plant, having been employed as wicks to lamps." Hooker.) 



