SILENE^. (PINK FAMILY.) 



139 



lanceolate, obtuse or acutish. Racemes .1 to .3 long, stifi ; peduncles 

 shorter than calyx, the upper very short ; bracts unequal ; calyx 

 membranous, red nerved, tapering-cylindrical from truncate base, in 

 fruit club-shaped, teeth oblong, obtuse ; limb purple, bipartite to base ; 

 capsule oblong, ticice to thrice as long as gynophore — Spring — Sandy 

 places along coast, from Jafia southward to Ramleh in the Tih. 



21. S. nocturna, L. © .3 to .4, puberuleiit 

 simple or sparingly branched. Leaves spathulate to 

 oblong or oblong-linear, acute. Raceme loose ; lower 

 peduncles as long as calyx or longer, the others short- 

 er ; bracts somewhat unequal, longer than peduncles ; 

 calyx .01 long, oblong injiower and fruit, tapering at 

 base, teeth lanceolate, acute ; limb small, whitish^ 

 livid below, cuneate, bifid ; capsule oblong, sessile — 

 Spring — Coast, and coast range to 1000 m. 



Var. prostrata, Post. Prostrate ; calyx green- 

 veined — Ras Beiriit. 



22. S. apetala, Willd. .3 to .3, appressed- 

 pubescent ; stem erect, simple or dichotomous. 

 Leaves oblong-linear to linear-lanceolate. Flowers 

 loosely racemose, tJie upper irregularly cymose ; ped- 

 uncles longer than .008 long, green, campanulate, 

 in fruit obovate, calyx ; calyx teeth lanceolate, acute ; 

 petals 0, or 7ninute, included, denticulate; capsule 

 globular, sessile — Spring and Summer — 



Var. Orlentalis, Boiss. Fields ; Wadi Kelt ; 

 top of wall of Jerusalem ; sandy places near Duma, 

 Lebanon. 



stem erect, 

 Fig. 69. 



23. S. bipartita, Desf. .2 to .4, appressed- 

 pubescent ; stems ascending or procumbent at base, 

 rarely erect, simple or dichotomous. Leaves obovate 

 obtuse, to oblong-linear acute ; bracts small, oblong- 

 lanceolate, unequal. Peduncles shorter than . 02 long 

 calyx ; calyx red-nerved, obconical-cylindrical from 

 umbilicate base, in fruit club-shaped, teeth oblong, ob- 

 tuse ; limb pink, bifid into obovate or linear lobes 



once to twice as long as carpophore 

 coast. 



Fruiting raceme of 

 S. nocturna. 



capsule ovate. 



Spring — Sandy places along 



Var. Oliveriana, Post. Leaves often narrower. Calyx green- 

 nerved. Limb white or pale pinh, with linear lobes. {8. Oliveriana, 

 Otth. S. colorata, Poir.) 



Var. longipe§, Post. Capsule shorter than carpophore — Not un- 

 common. 



Var, stenophylla, Boiss. Leaves linear-oblong to linear. Stems 

 1 -few-flowered — Palestine to Sinai. 



