S IL 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



S I L 



577 



purple, with the petals cloven half way, from upright spread- 

 ing a little. It flowers from June to August. Native of 

 Crete or Candia. 



42. Silene Muscipula; Spanish Catchfly. Petals bifid; 

 stem dichotomous ; flowers axillary, sessile ; leaves smooth ; 

 root annual. The sliminess of this plant is such, says Gerarde, 

 that if you take it in your hands, your fingers will cleave 

 together, as if your hand touched birdlime ; and if flies do 

 light upon the same, they will be so entangled that they 

 cannot fly away. Native of the south of France, Spain, 

 Siberia, and Algiers. Sow the seeds in autumn. When the 

 plants are fit to remove, transplant them into a bed of fresh 

 earth, at six inches' distance, shading and watering them until 

 they have taken new root. Keep them clean from weeds till 

 autumn, and then transplant them to the places where they 

 are designed to remain, for flowering. When the seeds hap- 

 pen to scatter upon a wall, the plants will continue much 

 longer than in the ground. 



43. Silene Polyphylla; Many-leaved Catchfly. Leaves in 

 bundles, bristle-shaped, on the flowering branches opposite. 

 Root perennial ; stems branching, and frequently lying on 

 the ground. Native of Dauphiny, Hungary, Austria, and 

 Bohemia. 



** Flowers terminating . 



44. Silene Armeria ; Common or Label's Catchfly.' Pani- 

 cles dichotomous, fastigiate, many-flowered ; petals emargi- 

 nate, acutely crowned ; upper leaves cordate, smooth. There 

 are three varieties, which generally retain their differences : 

 one has a bright purple flower ; the second a pale red, and 

 the third a white flower. Annual. It flowers in July and 

 August. Native of Denmark, Germany, France, Switzer- 

 land, Carniola, and Piedmont. Observed on the banks of 

 the river below the city of Chester. 



45. Silene Orchidea; Orchis-flowered Catchfly. Petals 

 two-lobed, the borders having on each side of the base an 

 awl-shaped process ; leaves even, the lower roundish, spatu- 

 late; petioles ciliate. Root annual; stem erect, dichotomous. 

 It flowers in May and June. Native of the Levant. 



46. Silene Egyptiaca; Egyptian Catchfty. Petals emargi- 

 nate, toothed on both sides ; leaves subtomentose. Stem 

 herbaceous, a palm high, brachiate, very slightly tomentose ; 

 flowers terminating. Native of Egypt. 



47. Silene Catesboei ; Catesby's Catchfly. Calices cylin- 

 drical ; petals four-cleft, acute ; panicle terminating ; leaves 

 lanceolate. Native of Carolina. 



48. Silene Cordifolia; Heart-leaved Catchfly, Calices 

 pubescent, angular, cylindrical ; petals bifid ; flowers termi- 

 nating ; leaves roundish, acute, nerved, hairy. Root fibrous, 

 perennial. This plant is viscid all over. Native of the 

 higher rocks of Piedmont, the county of Nice, and the Col 

 de Tende. 



49. Silene Chloreefolia ; Armenian Catchfly. Calices 

 smooth, club-shaped; petals semibifid; leaves glaucous, lower 

 oval, upper cordate, embracing; root probably perennial. 

 Native of Armenia. 



50. Silene Alpestris ; Austrian Catchfly. Petals four- 

 toothed ; stem dichotomous ; capsules ovate-oblong ; leaves 

 linear-lanceolate, smooth, erect; peduncles viscid. Root 

 perennial. Native of the mountains of Austria. This, and 

 the three following species, may be propagated by seeds or 

 cuttings. They are all hardy. 



51. Silene Rupestris ; Rock Catchfly. Flowers erect; 

 petals emarginate ; calices round ; leaves lanceolate. It 

 flowers from June to August. Native of Lapland, Sweden, 

 Germany, Dauphiny, Piedmont, and Siberia. 



52. Silene Saxifraga; Saxifrage Catchfly. Stems one- 





flowered ; peduncles length of the stem ; leaves smooth ; 

 flowers hermaphrodite and female ; petals bifid. Root woody, 

 branched. It is a creeping plant, with the branches com- 

 monly simple and viscid. It flowers from June to August. 

 Native of France, Italy, Carniola, and Japan. 



53. Silene Vallesia; Woolly-leaved Catchfly. Stems one- 

 flowered, decumbent ; leaves lanceolate, tomentose, length of 

 the calix. The flowers grow erect, are of a pale red colour, 

 and are succeeded by turgid capsules, filled with roundish 

 seeds. It flowers from June to August. Native of the higher 

 Alps, of the Vaudois, the Valais, and Dauphiny. The seeds 

 of this should be sown in dry rubbish, where they will remain 

 several years, but in a rich moist soil they seldom survive 

 the winter. 



54. Silene Pumilio; Dwarf Mountain Catchfly. Sterns 

 one-flowered, two-leaved; petals repand ; leaves linear, lan- 

 ceolate. Root perennial. Native of the mountains of Italy, 

 Moravia, and Carinthia. 



55. Silene Acaulis ; Stemless Catchfly, or Moss Campion. 

 Stemless: leaves linear, ciliate at the base; peduncles solitary, 

 one-flowered ; petals emarginate. The root is perennial, 

 forms a thick tuft, and descends far into the earth ; the leaves 

 are bright green, crowded, half an inch to an inch long; the 

 floVers pink, with a violet calix. It flowers from May to 

 July. Native of the mountains of Lapland, Denmark, Bri- 

 tain, Germany, Dauphiny, Austria, Piedmont, Switzerland, 

 and the Pyrenees : on the highest mountains of Devonshire, 

 Wales, and Scotland; as, on Ben Lomond, lales of Mull, 

 Rum, and Skye. 



56. Silene Hispida; Hairy Catchfly. Flowers racemed, 

 clustered, directed one way; calices- very hirsute; petals 

 bifid. Native of Mount Atlas. 



57. Silene Imbricata ; Imbricate- flowered Catchfly. Stem 

 hairy below ; leaves lanceolate ; flowers sessile, directed one 

 way, stiff, in long racemes, imbricate. Annual. Native of 

 Barbary, in the fields near Mascar. 



58. Silene Tridentata. Hirsute: leaves narrow, lanceolate; 

 flowers racemed, distinct, sessile; teeth of the calix awl- 

 shaped; capsules acuminate, erect. Found in Spain, and in 

 the corn-fields near Algiers. 



59. Silene Reticulata ; Netted Catchfly. Smooth, viscid : 

 leaves narrow, lanceolate ; peduncles two or three flowered ; 

 calix club-shaped, netted ; petals linear, emarginate ; stem 

 erect, smooth, branched, viscid, slender. Native of Algiers. 



60. Silene Bipartita; Cloven-petalled Catchfly. Lower 

 leaves spatulate; flowers racemed, directed one way, nodding; 

 petals two-parted ; stem pubescent, jointed, erect, or else de- 

 cumbent at the base, branched. This is a very handsome 

 annual species. Found in Barbary, flowering during spring. 



61. Silene Pseudo-atocion. Lowest leaves obovate ; flowers 

 in bundles, terminating; calices club-shaped; petals linear, 

 quite entire. Stems often many from the same tuft. An- 

 nual. Native of Mount Atlas. 



62. Silene Ramosissima; Branched Catchfly. Pubescent, 

 viscid, very much branched: leaves narrow, lanceolate ; pe- 

 duncles from one to three flowered; calices ovate; petals 

 bifid; capsules subsessile, within the calix. Perennial.- - 

 Found on the sand, by the coast of Barbary. 



63. Silene Arenaria ; Sandwort Catchfly. Villose, viscid : 

 leaves linear, lanceolate, bluntish ; flowers loosely racemed ; 

 petals bifid; capsules within the calix, pedicelled. Native of 

 the sandy shores of the Mediterranean. 



64. Silene Arenarioides ; Sandwort-liAe Catchfly. Pu- 

 bescent: leaves narrow, linear; peduncles from one to three 

 floweted; calices ten, striated, villose; petals bifid; capsules 

 round, pedicelled. Native of Barbary. 



