724 



SILENE. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



and of the easiest culture. The best 

 kinds are S. Candida, with pretty 

 white flowers an inch across, on tall 

 stems of 2 to 3 feet a showy plant 

 when freely grouped. Rosy Gem is 

 identical with this, save in its fine rosy 

 colour. S. malvceflora is of stout erect 

 growth and fine habit, with deep rosy- 

 purple flowers nearly 2 inches across 

 when fully expanded. A form of this, 

 5. Listeri, is charming, with spikes of 

 soft rosy flowers beautifully fringed at 

 the edges. Others are atro-purpurea, 

 with deep purple spikes, and Murray- 

 ana, a dwarf plant, in which the 

 flowers are a deep rose-crimson. 5. 

 oregana has smaller rosy flowers ; 

 5. incarnata, slender and rigid red 

 spikes ; while in 5. spicata they are 

 rosy-purple. 



SILENE (Catchfly}. A large family 

 containing few showy plants, but with 

 some of great beauty. S. and C. 

 Europe is the home of the Silene, 

 though a few extend west to America, 

 or east to Siberia, and a sprinkling is 

 found on the southern shores of the 

 Mediterranean and in Asia Minor. The 

 following dwarf kinds are suitable 

 chiefly for the rock garden : 



S. ACAULIS (Cushion Pink).- A dwarf 

 alpine herb tufted into light green masses 

 like a wide - spreading Moss, but quite 

 firm. In summer it becomes a mass of 

 pink, rose, or crimson flowers barely 

 peeping above the leaves. Spots on the 

 mountains of Scotland, Northern Ireland, 

 North Wales, and the Lake District of 

 England are sheeted over with its firm 

 flat tufts, often several feet across. In 

 gardens it is as beautiful as when wild, 

 growing freely iu almost any soil, but not 

 shaded, or in pots and pans. A new 

 species of Silene, 5. Palestine, from Asia 

 Minor, comes near our Cushion Pink, with 

 heads of deep rosy flowers. 



S. ALPESTRIS (Alpine Catchfly). A very 

 dwarf alpine plant, hardy, and beautiful 

 when covered with white flowers in Ma}-. 

 It succeeds in any soil, and is 4 to 6 inches 

 high. It should be used freely in every 

 rock garden. 5. a. grandiflora is an invalu- 

 able double-flowered variety. Division 

 or seed. 



S. ARMERIA is a showy annual kind with 

 leafy stems of 12 to 1 8 inches high, bluish- 

 green foliage, and dense clustered heads 

 of white, pink, or crimson flowers from 

 July to September. When established on 

 old walls and in rough places it will sow 

 itself freely with fine effect, some of the 

 prettiest wild pictures of S. Europe hav- 

 ing arisen in this way. It is already 

 naturalised in parts of Britain, and is just 



the plant for a wild garden, in light and 

 well drained soils. 



S. ELIZABETHS. A richly beautiful and 

 scarce alpine plant, the flowers looking 

 more like those of some handsome but 

 tiny Clarkia than of the Silenes commonly 

 grown. They are very large, bright rose 

 with the claws or bases of the petals white. 

 One to seven flowers are borne on stems 

 3 to 4 inches high. It is considered diffi- 

 cult to grow, but strong plants are as easy 

 to manage as the Cushion Pink. It is 

 rare in a wild state, but occurs in the Tyrol 

 and Italy, amid shattered fragments of 

 rock, and sometimes in flaky rocks without 

 soil. This beautiful " Catchfly " is not 

 often seen even among the choicer alpines, 

 while colonies of it in the rock garden are 

 rare. The moraine should not prove 

 uncongenial to the plant itself, seeing 

 that in nature it is not infrequent among 

 limestone rubble on sunny slopes. Few 

 species of the genus are more distinct and 

 attractive, the plant bearing handsome 

 Clarkia-like flowers, on stems 6 to 8 inches 

 high, and of a rich, rosy-red colour. It 

 flowers late in June and through July. 

 Seeds. E. H. J. 



S. HOOKER: . A dwarf and rare Cali- 

 fornian, with downy leaves of two different 

 shaped, trailing stems, and large deeply- 

 notched rose-coloured flowers 2 inches 

 across. The plant thrives in deep sandy 

 soil and in open and well-drained positions 

 in the alpine garden, nestled among the 

 larger rocks which reflect the sun and 

 protect from cold winds. Seeds. 



S. MARITIMA. The handsome double 

 variety (S. maritima fl.-pl.} of this British 

 plant is noteworthy, not only for its white 

 flowers like those of a small double Pink, 

 but for its dense spreading sea - green 

 carpet of leaves, pleasing on the margins 

 of raised borders, or hanging over the 

 faces of stones in the rougher parts of the 

 rock garden. The flowers appear in June, 

 and those of the double variety rarely rise 

 more than a couple of inches above the 

 leaves, which form a tuft about 2 inches 

 deep. 



S. PENDULA. There are many garden 

 forms of this fine biennial. There are 

 double-flowered forms of all these varia- 

 tions, which last longer in flower than the 

 single kinds, and also many named selec- 

 tions, such as Triumph, Snow King, Elfridc, 

 Venus, and Empress of India. These 

 compacta varieties are mostly used for 

 spring work, and form compact rounded 

 tufts about 4 inches high. To obtain the 

 finest plants for spring-flowering, seed 

 should be sown in the reserve garden in 

 autumn, and afterwards transplanted. 

 Flowers from May to August. Italy and 

 Sicily. 



S. PENNSYLVANIA. The wild Pink of 

 America is a dwarf plant, forming dense 



