116 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



The second plant, the meadow lychnis, or ragged robin, 

 the Lychnis flos-cuculi, is a near relative of the white 

 lychnis, the subject of another of our illustrations. It 

 is very abundant in most parts of the country where 

 the natural conditions favour its growth, and should be 

 looked for in low-lying lands, moist meadows and 

 pastures, or by the sides of ditches and streams. The 

 general growth of the plant is erect ; the stems stand 

 up boldly from one foot to eighteen inches high, and 

 branch but little. The leaves are but few in number, 

 arranged in pairs on the stem, and very narrow in 

 proportion to their length, of the form that is known 

 botanically as lanceolate. The flowers are arranged in a loose 

 head of blossoms. The flower has five large and spreading 

 petals of a bright pink colour, each petal being deeply cleft 

 into four long and narrow segments, the feature that has 

 prompted the familiar name of the plant. The calyx has 

 ten conspicuous ribs and furrows, and, like the upper part 

 of the flower-stalks, is of a dull reddish- purple colour. The 

 Tagged robin is in blossom during the spring and early 

 summer. It is a perennial. 



