SEA CAMPION. 



Silene maritima. Nat. Orel., Cnryo- 

 phyllacece. 



OME writers on matters botanical 

 speak of the present plant as 

 only a variety of the common 

 bladder campion, Silene inflata, 

 a plant that has already made 

 an appearance in our series. 

 Bentham, for example, in his 

 " Handbook of the British 

 Flora/' winds up his description 

 of the bladder campion by 

 saying : " A sea-coast variety, 

 with short diffuse stems, thicker, 

 more obtuse leaves, and almost 

 solitary flowers, has been dis- 

 tinguished as a species under 

 the name of S. maritima" 

 Hooker and Arnott, in their 

 "British Flora/' admit it to 

 specific rank, as did the author of the well-known 

 standard work "English Botany/' but the former, after 

 describing the plant, go on to say, "This, though it 

 has smaller stems and leaves than the last, has larger 

 flowers ; yet we will not assert w r e have done right in 

 again raising it to the rank of a species." In so doubtful a 



