CLASS X. ORDER III.] SILENE. 



y. hirsuta. Peduncles and calyx more or less hairy. 



Root of long branched fibres. Stem short, much branched and 

 tufted, forming very dense moss-looking patches from its very nu- 

 merous crowded leaves, which are in pairs, and united at the base into 

 a short tube, of a bright cheerful green, linear or linear lanceolate, and 

 spreading, about half an inch long, single ribbed, the margins ciliated, 

 with short pale hairs, mostly only at the base, but not unfrequenily on 

 the whole margin. Peduncle varying in length, from very short to an 

 inch or more long, smooth or hairy. Calyx bell-shaped, smooth or 

 hairy, the limb of five erect lanceolate teeth, in var. y. obtuse, and the 

 margin smooth or finely ciliated. Petals smooth, obovate or obcordate, 

 the claw slender, having at the top a small cleft scale. Stamens with 

 slender filaments, about as long as the calyx. Style with slender 

 linear downy stigmas, longer than the stamens. Capsule linear, ovate, 

 as long again as the calyx, three celled at the base, bursting at the 

 apex with six obtuse teeth. Seeds kidney-shaped, finely rugose. 



Habitat. On the summit of lofty mountains ; Snowdon, Ireland, 

 and abundant on all the Scotch mountains. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



The flowers vary from a beautiful rose colour to pure white, and are 

 often duEcious, and the calyx is green or purple. Nothing can be 

 more beautiful than the large dense lively green patches of this 

 plant, covering the tops and sides of our lofty mountains, and espe- 

 cially when it is variegated with the gay colours of its handsome 

 flowers, which are brighter and more lovely the more lofty the situa- 

 tion is in which they grow ; and we have observed it very beautiful 

 on artificial rock work, but neither is the brightness of its foliage nor 

 the splendour of its flowers so great as when grown in its pure native 

 air. It grows abundantly on the Alps of Switzerland, the Appennines 

 of Italy ; and my friend Mr. Parry has furnished me with beautiful 

 specimens from the lofty mountains of the Pyrenees, some having the 

 leaves quite smooth, and others ciliated with short hairs from the base 

 to the apex. 



Sect. 2. BEHENANTHA. Otth. De Cand. Prod. p. 1, p. 367. Stems 

 elongated. Flowers solitary, or paniculated. Calyx inflated, 

 bladdery. 



2. S. infla'ta, Smith. (Fig. 708.) Bladder Campion. Flowers 

 numerous, in a terminal branched panicle ; calyx ovate, inflated, 

 numerously ribbed and netted with veins, smooth ; petals deeply 

 cloven into two narrow segments; crown of very small scales, bifid; 

 leaves ovate lanceolate. 



English Flora, vol. ii. p. 292. Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 

 204. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 45. Cucubalus Behen, Linn. English 

 Botany, t. 164. 



/3. maritima, De Cand. Leaves ovate lanceolate, pubescent, or 

 downy. 



