i 7 8 FLOWERS OF THE SEA-COAST 



It is much less compact than Cheddar Pink, having numerous 

 branched stems (being caulescent or forming aerial stems), the barren 

 stems spreading, and suberect or prostrate, while a rosette of barren 

 shoots is formed. The stems are not dwarfed as in Moss Campion. 

 The leaves are oblong, tapering. 



The flowering stems are panicled or solitary, and erect, the calyx 

 bladder-like, swollen, netted, the flowers panicled, the petals white, 

 cleft, and crowned. The nerves of the calyx are netted, and the capsule 

 is not completely divided by septa. The flowers are larger than in 

 the Bladder Campion. The bracts are herbaceous, and the styles are 

 divided into two nearly to the base. 



The plant is usually 9 in. high. The flowers are in bloom from 

 August to September. It is perennial and propagated by division. 



The tube is long and narrow, and the flowers are adapted to 

 pollination by long-tongued Lepidoptera; the flowers are drooping in 

 habit, with an inflated calyx, and the anthers are projected after they 

 mature, and the flowers are proterandrous, i.e. the anthers ripen first. 

 In S. Cucubalus the flowers are trimorphic. 



The seeds of Sea Campion are dispersed by the agency of the 

 wind. The capsule opens above, and the many small seeds, partly 

 winged, are upset by gusts of wind and blown to a distance. 



The plant is a halophyte or salt-lover, requiring a saline soil, and 

 is a sand plant, addicted to sandy seashores. 



Uromyces behenis and Ustilago violacea are parasitic fungi which 

 live on it. The Netted Pug Moth (Eitpithoscia venosata], Bordered 

 Gothic (Nenria Saponarice), Gelechia leucomanella, Barrett's Marbled 

 Coronet {Dianthcecia barrettii], the Gray (D. ccesia), and the Pod-lover 

 (D. capsophild] feed on it. 



Silene, of Theophrastus, is from the satyr Silenus of ancient Greek 

 mythology, and maritima refers to the habitat of the plant. 



Sea Campion is called Thimble and the Witches' Thimble. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



47. Silene maritima, With. Stems numerous, spreading, leaves 

 glaucous, entire, oblong, flowers white, solitary, erect, calyx inflated, 

 petals notched, crowned. 



Sea Purslane (Arenaria peploides, L.) 



This maritime species has been found in the Interglacial deposits 

 of Hants. It is found in the Arctic and North Temperate Zones on 

 the shores of Western Europe, from the Arctic regions to Spain, and 



