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S I L 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



S I L 



than the bracte; calices very long, smooth. Root perennial: 

 stems panicled, smooth. Native of Hungary. 



18. Silene Gigantea; Gigantic Catchfly. Petals bifid; 

 root-leaves screw-shaped, very blunt; flowers in a sort of 

 whorl. They open only by night. Native of Africa, Sicily, 

 and Crete. Sow the seeds of this, and the two following 

 species, upon a warm border in autumn ; and when they are 

 fit to remove, set them on a dry soil in a warm situation, where 

 they will live through the winter, and in the following summer 

 they will flower, ripen seeds, and decay. 



19. Silene Crassifolia; Thick-leaved Catchfly. Petals emar- 

 ginate ; leaves suborbiculate, fleshy, hirsute ; raceme directed 

 one way ; root biennial. It flowers in July and August. 

 Native of the Cape. 



20. Silene Viridiflora; Green-flowered Catchfly. Petals 

 cloven half way ; leaves ovate, somewhat rugged, acute ; the 

 panicle elongated, almost leafless ; flowers in loose spikes at 

 the top, of a green colour ; root biennial ; plant a foot high 

 or more. Native of Spain, Portugal, and Siberia. 



*** Flowers from the forks of the Stem. 



21. Silene Conoidea; Conoid Catchfly. Calices of the 

 fruit globular, acuminate, with thirty streaks; leaves smooth; 

 petals entire. Native of France, Spain, and Italy, among 

 corn. It flowers in June, and the seeds ripen in August. 



22. Silene Conica; Conic or Corn Catchfly. Stem dicho- 

 tomous ; petals bifid; leaves soft; calices of the fruit conical, 

 with thirty streaks ; root annual, small, somewhat branched ; 

 flowers from the divarications of the stem, solitary, pedicel- 

 led, erect, in an evening exhaling a sweet smell like that of 

 the Honeysuckle, but weaker. Native of Germany, France, 

 Spain, Italy, the Levant, and Barbary. It flowers in July. 

 Found on the sand-hills near Sandown castle, and at New 

 Romney in Kent. 



23. Silene Bellidifolia; Daisy-leaved Catchfly. Calices 

 cylindric-conic, pubescent, erect; petals bifid; racemes 

 geminate, terminating, directed one way, the middle flower 

 peduncled ; leaves lanceolate, pubescent. Annual. 



24. Silene Dichotoma; Forked Catchfly. Calices ovate, 

 viscid, hairy, erect; petals bifid; racemes geminate, termi- 

 nating, directed one way ; middle flower peduncled ; leaves 

 petioled, ovate-lanceolate, ciliate at the base. This is an 

 annual or biennial plant. Native of Hungary. 



25. Silene Vespertina; Evening Catchfiy. Calices club- 

 shaped, pubescent, erect; petals bifid; crown connate; 

 racemes geminate, terminating, directed one way; middle 

 flower peduncled ; leaves obovate-lanceolate, ciliate at the 

 base; plant annual, rough-haired all over. The flower is 

 flesh-coloured, and open in the evening; stem branched, 

 <rect, the branches mostly alternate. Found on the shores 

 of Sicily, Barbary, Crete, &c. 



26. Silene Behen; Bladder Catchfly. Calices smooth, 

 ovate, netted-veined ; capsules three-celled. Native of the 

 island of Candia. 



27. Silene Stricta; Stiff Catchfly. Petals emarginate ; 

 calices netted, veined, acuminate, longer than the peduncle ; 

 stem dichotomous, stiff. Plant annual. Native of Spain. 



28. Silene Pendula; Pendulous Catchfly. Fruiting calices 

 pendulous, inflated ; angles ten, rugged. It flowers in May 

 and June. The flowers come out singly from the axils upon 

 short peduncles ; they are large, and of a bright red colour, 

 resembling those of the common wild Red Campion. Native 

 of Sicily, Crete, or Candia. 



29. Silene Procumbens ; Procumbent Catchfly. Calices 

 inflated, with about ten angles, rugged ; petals emarginate. 

 Stem procumbent ; leaves sessile, linear, lanceolate. Peren- 

 nial. ^Weak, tender, and very smooth. 



30. Silene Noctiflora; Forked Night-flowering Catchfly. 

 Stem dichotomous ; petals bifid, obtusely crowned ; calices 

 ten-angled; teeth nearly equal to the tube. Root annual, 

 small in proportion to the herb, which often becomes very 

 luxuriant in a manured soil. It flowers in July. Native of 

 Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Dauphiny, Piedmont; and in 

 England, in sandy fields in the middle, eastern, and southern 

 counties. In Cambridgeshire it occurs by the road from 

 New Market to Canvass-hall in Wood Ditton; near the turn- 

 pike on Newmarket heath ; near Catlidge hall, between Snail- 

 well and Chippenham ; in Bedfordshire at Oakley Westfield ; 

 in Oxfordshire at Headington, Stanton, Harcourt, Gowley, and 

 South Leigh. It flowers in July. Permit the seeds to scatter, 

 and the plants will come up without further care. 



31. Silene Ornata; Dark-coloured Catchfly. Calices of 

 the fruit oblong, keeled, hairy ; petals hairy, bifid ; leaves 

 lanceolate, pubescent, waved ; stem ascending. This is a 

 biennial plant, with dark red flowers, somewhat like that of 

 the Clove Pink, in which its beauty chiefly consists, for the 

 plant itself is of rude growth. It grows readily to the height 

 of about two feet, blows freely during most of the summer 

 months, and ripens its seeds. It flowers from May to Sep- 

 tember. Native of the Cape. This, and the next species, 

 require the protection of the dry-stove, green-house, or glass- 

 case. They may easily be raised from seeds, but more com- 

 monly from cuttings, which strike freely. 



32. Silene Undulata; Wave-leaved Catchfly. Calices of 

 the fruit subcylmdrical, hairy; petals bifid ; leaves lanceolate, 

 pubescent, waved ; stem ascending. It flowers in August. 

 Native of the Cape. 



33. Silene Virginica; Virginian Catchfly. Calices of the 

 flower cylindrical, villose ; panicle dichotomous. Native of 

 Virginia. Perennial, polymorphous. 



34. Silene Antirrhina; Snapdragon-leaved Catchfly. Leaves 

 lanceolate; peduncles trifid; petals emarginate; calices ovate. 

 Root annual, slender, fibrous. It flowers in June and July. 

 Native of Virginia and Carolina. 



35. Silene Sedoides ; Sedum-like Catchfly. Glandular, 

 hairy; calices club-shaped; petals emarginate; leaves oblong- 

 obovate, somewhat fleshy. Root annual ; stem branching, 

 diffuse. Native country uncertain. 



36. Silene Apetala ; Apetalous Catchfly. Calices ovate, 

 pubescent ; flower apetalous ; leaves lanceolate, pubescent. 

 This is an annual plant, differing from, all the species of 

 Silene in the flowers being clandestine from the defect of 

 pete's; stem round, six inches high, with the branches simple 

 and opposite ; capsule shortly pedicelled. 



37. Silene Rubella; Small Red-flowered Catchfly. Erect, 

 even: calices subglobular, smooth, veined; corollas unopened. 

 Root annual, simple, fibrous, descending straight down. It 

 flowers in May. Native of Portugal, and Cyprus. 



38. Silene Inaperta; Small Unopen-flowered Catchfly. 

 Stem dichotomous, panicled ; calices even ; petals very short, 

 emarginate; leaves smooth, lanceolate. Root annual, fibrous. 

 It flowers in July and August. Native of the south of Europe; 

 as the county of Nice, Scopoli, and Carniola. 



39. Silene Clandestina; Clandestine Catchfly. Calices 

 ovate, ten-angled, pubescent; petals bifid, erect, a little 

 longer than the calix; leaves oblong, lanceolate, ciliate. 

 Native of the Cape. 



40. Silene Portensis; Oporto Catchfly. Stem dichoto- 

 mous, panicled ; calices striated ; petals bifid ; leaves linear. 

 It flowers in July and Angust. Native of Portugal. 



41. Silene Cretica; Cretan Catchfly. Erect, even : calice* 

 erect, ten-angled ; petals bifid ; stem dichotomous-panicled, 

 spreading, filiform, with the joints viscid; flower bright 



