124 SILENE^. (PINK FAMILY.) 



Var. pruinosns, Post. Indument pminose — Lebanon ; Khan 

 Hhathrurali to Jericbo. 



Var. §ubenervi§, Boiss, Calyx-teeth almost destitute of 

 nerves — Lebanon. 



3. D. polyeladus, Boiss. 21 .2 to .5,_ glabrous, or velvety 

 below ; stems numerous, slender, dichotomous, with stiff, slender, elon- 

 gated branches. Leaves stiff, scabrous, those of branches short, narrow, 

 scale-like. Flowers terminal, solitary, .01 broad ; scales scarious, 

 ovate, mucronate ; calyx .006 to .01 long ; limb pale pink, dbhng- 

 linear, entire or retuse — Summer — Lebanon and Hermon to Amanus 

 and Akherdagh, to 1500 m. 



Var. diffu§a, Post. Stems prostrate or ascending, .15 to .3 — 

 Alpine Lebanon. 



§ 2. LEIOPETAIil. 



4. I>. palleii§, Sibth. Ij! .3 to .4, glabrescent, glaucescent. 

 Stems erect, simple, more or less paniculate-corymbose. Leaves 

 linear, with scabrous margins, sheaths short, knotted. Flowers .02 

 broad, without bracts, or subtended by the upper pair of leaves ; 

 scales ovate, acute, tapering or mucronate; calyx .015 to .02 long, some- 

 wliat tajyering at a:pexj teeth oblong-lanceolate ; limb obovate-cuneate, 

 crenate or dentate — May and June — Dry hillsides ; Antilebanon to 

 Amanus and northward. 



Var. oxylepis, Boiss. Glaucous. Scales acuminate, the outer 

 often lanceolate irAtli spreading cusp, sometimes only 2 — Coelesyria 

 and Antilebanon to Palmyra, Aleppo, and nothward and eastward. 



5. I>, Judaicii§5 Boiss. If .2 to .3 glaucous, papillose-sca- 

 hrous, tufted ; stems generally 1-flowered. Leaves linear, acute, recur- 

 ved, pliaite-lceeled, with membranous margin. Flowers .02 broad, some- 

 what remote from upper leaves ; scales glabrous, oblong, someichat 

 spreading at apex, tapering abruptly into a green, acute, ascending cusp; 

 calyx thrice as long as scales, .025 long ; teeth lanceolate, acute ; limb 

 oblong, nearly entire — May — Hot hillsides around Dead Sea. 



6. I>. Aiiraniticus, Post. (Trans. Linnean Soc, Lond., 1888, 

 p. 426) % .3, glabrous, glaucescent ; stems sparingly branched. 

 Leaves linear, plicate, narrowly scarious-margined, the lower imbricated, 

 dilated at base. Flowers solitary ; scales .01 to .013 long, oblong- 

 lanceolate, membranous-margined, abraptly tapering into an ascend- 

 ing or spjreading ciisj), half as long as calyx tube ; calyx .02 to .03 long, 

 with triangular-lanceolate, mucronate teeth ; limb obovate-spathulate, 

 sparingly dentate — May and June — Fields ; between Irbid and 

 Bosrah, Hauran, Further study required to establish the differences 

 between D. pallens, var. oxylepis, Boiss, D. Judaicus, and this 

 species. 



7. D. lactiflorns, Fenzl. If .3 to .5, glabrous, woody at base, 

 with many, simj^le or sparingly branched, 3-5-flowered stems. Leaves 

 linear, scabrous at margin, the lower .06 to .1 long. Flowers .02 broad; 

 scales 4, a])pressed, about one-third as long as calyx -tube, ovate-elliptical, 

 membranous-margined, tapering into a sJwrt cusp or mucro ; calyx 



