96 CARYOPHYLLACEAE. 



ovoid, oblong or cylindric in flower; petals 5, longer or shorter 

 than the calyx; stamens 10; styles 2; ovary 1 -celled or incom- 

 pletely 2-4-celled; capsule dehiscing with 4 teeth. 



Vaccaria vaccaria (L.) Britt. Cow Cockle. Annual, glabrous and glaucous, 

 20-60 cm. tall, usually much branched above; leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 

 acute, somewhat connate at base, 3-6 cm. long; calyx with 5 salient angles; 

 petals rose-pink, without appendages, 2 cm. long. Frequently a troublesome 

 weed in grain fields. 



130. SILENE. CATCHFLY. 



Annual or perennial herbs; flowers clustered or solitary, mainly 

 pink, red, or white; calyx more or less inflated, tubular, ovoid or 

 campanulate, 5-toothed, 10-many-nerved; petals 5, narrow, 

 clawed, mostly crowned with a scale at the base of the blade; 

 stamens 10; styles 3, rarely 2, 4, or 5, if 5 opposite the calyx- 

 teeth; ovary 1 -celled or incompletely 2-4-celled; ovules many; 

 capsule 3 or 6-toothed. 



Annuals. 



Stout, viscid-pubescent throughout. S. noctiflora. 



Slender, glabrous or puberulent with a portion of each inter- 



node sticky. S. antirrhina. 



Perennials. 



Flowers solitary in the forks of leafy branches. S. menziesii, 



Flowers in terminal panicles or occasionally solitary terminal. 



Ovary not stipitate; calyx usually campanulate. S. douglasii. 



Ovary stipitate; calyx cylindric, narrowed at base. 



Petals cleft into 4-8 linear lobes. S. oregana. 



Petals cleft into 2 lobes. 



Stems very leafy; petal-lobes small, entire. 5. spaldingii. 



Stems not very leafy; petal-lobes notched. S. scouleri. 



Silene noctiflora L. Stems stout, erect, 30-80 cm. high; lower leaves 

 oblanceolate or spatulate, the upper lanceolate, 5-8 cm. long; flowers white, 

 few and long-peduncled, in a loose cyme; fruiting calyx ovoid, white with 



en veins, 25 mm. long, the teeth subulate. A weed especially in grain 



green 

 fields. 



Silene antirrhina L. Annual, glabrous or puberulent; stem slender, mostly 

 simple, a portion of each internode sticky- viscid ; leaves linear or lanceolate, 

 acute, 2-6 cm. long, sessile; flowers in a forked compound cyme, long-pedicelled; 

 calyx 10-nerved, ovate, cylindrical in fruit, 6-10 mm. long; petals white or 

 pinkish, notched, little exceeding the calyx, Sandy or gravelly soil, infrequent. 



Silene menziesii Hook. Perennial, glandular-puberulent; stems weak, 

 erect or decumbent, usually branched, 10-30 cm. high, leafy; leaves elliptic- 

 lanceolate, acuminate or acute at each end, 2-6 cm. long; flowers small, solitary 

 in the forks of leafy branches; calyx obconical, 5-6 mm. long, 5-toothed, nerves 

 not prominent; petals white, 2-cleft, 6-8 mm. long, usually without a crown. 

 In woods and copses, common. 



Silene douglasii multicaulis (Nutt.) Robinson. Perennial, tufted, minutely 

 pubescent throughout; flowering stems erect, 30-50 cm. tall, simple; leaves 

 linear or linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 5-8 cm. long; cymes few- 

 flowered, long-peduncled; calyx 10-15 mm. long, oblong or obovoid, somewhat 



