Saponaria.] XII. CARYOPHYLLACE^. 61 



II. SAPONARIA. SAPONARIA. 



Calyx, corolla, and stamens of Lychnis. Styles 2. Capsule opening at 

 the top in 4 teeth or short valves. 



This genus, artificially distinguished by the number of styles, comprises 

 several European and west Asiatic species, among which the 5. ocymoidet 

 and calabrica are frequently cultivated in our flower-gardens, and S. 

 Vaccaria, a common cornfield weed in continental Europe and central 

 Asia, remarkable for its angular calyx and small pink flowers, appears 

 occasionally in our own cornfields, especially in the southern counties 

 of England. 



1. S. officinalis, Linn. (fig. 133). Soapwort. A glabrous or puberulous 

 perennial, with several stout, leafy, erect stems, from 1 to 2 feet high. 

 Leaves ovate or elliptical, 2 to 3 inches long, strongly marked with 3 

 or 5 ribs, and narrowed at the base into a very short, broad stalk. 

 Flowers large and handsome, of a pale pink, or nearly white, in dense 

 corymbs or heads at the summit of the stems, surrounded by small 

 lanceolate floral leaves or bracts. Calyx tubular, about 9 or 10 lines 

 long. Petals obcordate. 



On banks, roadsides, and waste places, throughout central and 

 southern Europe and western Asia. Abundant in some parts of 

 England, Ireland, and southern Scotland, about villages and habita- 

 tions, probably introduced from cultivation, but perhaps really native 

 on the coasts of Cornwall and Devon. PL summer. 



IIL SILENE. SILENE. 



Calyx, corolla, and stamens of Lychnis. Styles 3. Capsules opening 

 at the top in 6 teeth or short valves. 



A very numerous genus, widely spread over Europe, Russian and 

 central Asia, and North America, with a few South African species. It 

 is very artificially distinguished from Saponaria and Lychnis by the 

 number of styles, and the popular names of Catchfly and Campion each 

 include species of both Silene and Lychnis. It has been proposed to 

 abandon the character derived from the styles, and to distinguish these 

 two genera by the number of the teeth or valves of the capsule, the 

 game as that of the styles in Lychnis, twice as many in SUene, thus 

 transferring Lychnis vespertina and S. diurna to Silene, but this would 

 scarcely render the genera less artificial. 

 Calyx glabrous. Leaves glabrous or slightly downy. 



Moss-like alpine plant, with very short tufted stems . 1. S. acaulis. 



Stem elongated. 



Calyx much inflated after flowering, ovoid or globular . . 2. S. Cncubaliu. 

 Calyx short, not inflated. Flowers numerous, small . . 3. S. Otilet. 

 Calyx and foliage downy or hairy. 

 Perennials. 

 Calyx short Flowers small, numerous, In opposite bunches or 



whorls 3.S. Otitet. 



Calyx tubular. Flowers rather large, nodding, on opposite 



peduncles, forming loose panicles .... 4.5. nutaiu. 



Annuals. Calyx contracted at the top, with narrow teeth. 

 Flowers axillary, forming unilateral spikes. Calyx 10-ribbed 6. S. gallica. 

 Flowers in terminal dichotomous panicles, or solitary. 



Calyx conical, 25- to 30-ribbed 6. S. conica. 



Calyx long and tubular, 10-ribbed 1. S. noctiJlortL 



Two south European species, S. italica and the Lold's Catchfly (3, 



