SILENE. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



861 



pretty white flowers an inch across, on 

 tall stems of 2 to 3 feet a showy plant 

 when freely grouped. Rosy Gem is 



Sibthorpia europaea variegata (Moneywort). 



identical with this, save in its fine rosy 

 colour ; it gained an award when shown 

 before the R.H.S. 5. malvceflora, is of 

 stout erect growth and fine habit, with 

 deep rosy-purple flowers nearly 2 in. 

 across when fully expanded. A form of 

 this, 6". Listeri, is charming, with spikes of 

 soft rosy flowers beautifully fringed at the 

 edges. Others are atropurpurea with 

 deep purple spikes, and Murray ana, a 

 dwarf plant, in which the flowers are a 

 deep rose-crimson. S. oregana has 

 smaller rosy flowers ; .5". incarnata, slender 

 and rigid red spikes ; while in S. spicata 

 they are rosy-purple. 



SILENE (Catchfly)^ large family con- 

 taining few showy plants, but with some 

 of great beauty. Southern and Central 

 Europe is the home of the Silene, though 

 a few extend west to America, or east to 

 Siberia, and a sprinkling is found on the 

 southern shores of the Mediterranean and 

 in Asia Minor. The following dwarf kinds 

 are suitable chiefly for the rock-garden : 



S. acaulis (Cushion Pink). A dwarf alpine 

 herb tufted into light green masses like a wide- 



spreading Moss, but quite firm. In summer it 

 becomes a mass of pink, rose, or crimson 

 flowers barely peeping above the leaves. Spots 

 on the mountains of Scotland, Northern 

 Ireland, North Wales, and the Lake District 

 of England are sheeted over with its firm flat 

 tufts, often several feet across. In gardens it is 

 as beautiful as when wild, growing freely in 

 almost any soil, but not shaded, or in pots and 

 pans. There are several varieties : alba ; 

 exscapa, with paler flowers and flower stems 

 even shorter than in the type ; muscoides, 

 dwarfer still ; elongata and grandiflora forms 

 with finely coloured flowers on longer stems ; 

 attrea with yellow foliage ; and flore plena, 

 perhaps the best of all the garden forms, most 

 of which are little removed from the wild 

 parent. A new species of Silene, S. Palestine, 

 from Asia Minor, comes near our Cushion Pink, 

 with heads of deep rosy flowers. 



S. alpestris (Alpine Catchfly). A very 

 dwarf and compact alpine plant, hardy, and 

 beautiful when covered with white flowers in 

 May. It succeeds in any soil and is 4 to 6 in. 

 high. It should be used freely in every rock- 

 garden. Some forms are quite sticky with 

 viscid matter, while others are free from it. S. 

 quadridentata and qnadrifida are similar. All 

 the alpine Silenes are propagated by division 

 in spring, or by seed. 



S. Armeria is a showy annual kind with 

 leafy stems of 12 to 18 in. high, bluish- 

 green foliage, and dense clustered heads of 

 white, pink, or crimson flowers from July to 

 September. When established on old walls 

 and in rough places it will sow itself 

 freely with fine effect, some of the prettiest 

 wild pictures of Southern Europe having arisen 

 in this way. It is already naturalised in parts 

 of Britain and is just the plant for a wild garden, 

 in light and well-drained soils. 



S. Elisabethae. A richly beautiful alpine 

 plant, the flowers looking more like those of 

 some handsome but tiny Clarkia than of the 

 Silenes commonly grown. They are very 

 large, bright rose with the claws or bases of 

 the petals white. One to seven flowers are 

 borne on stems 3 to 4 in. high. It is con- 

 sidered difficult to grow, but strong plants are 

 as easy to manage as the Cushion Pink. It is 

 rare in a wild state, but occurs in the Tyrol 

 and Italy, amidst shattered fragments of rock, 

 and sometimes in flaky rocks without any soil. 

 It wants a warm nook in the rock-garden, in a 

 mixture of about one-third good loam, one- 

 third peat, and one-third broken stones, and 

 should be planted where its roots can run far 

 back, into this soil. Flowers rather late in 

 summer. Seeds. 



S. Hookeri. A dwarf and rare Californian 

 species, with downy leaves of two different 

 shapes, trailing stems, and large deeply-notched 

 rose-coloured flowers 2 in. across. The plant 

 thrives in deep sandy soil and in open and 

 well-drained positions in the alpine garden, 

 nestled among the larger rocks which reflect 

 the sun and protect from cold winds. 



8. maritima. The handsome double variety 



