GENUS 7. 



PINK FAMILY. 



i. Saponaria officinalis L. Soapwort. Bouncing Bet. 

 London Pride. Bruise-wort. Fig. 1828. 



Saponaria officinalis L. Sp. PI. 408. 1753. 



Perennial, glabrous, erect, stout, sparingly branched, leafy, 

 i-2 high. Leaves ovate or oval, 2'-$' long, about i' wide, 

 strongly 3-5-ribbed, acute, narrowed at the base into a broad 

 short petiole; flowers pink or whitish, about i' broad, in 

 dense terminal corymbs, with numerous small lanceolate 

 bracts or floral leaves; calyx tubular, 8"-io" long, faintly 

 nerved, 5-toothed; petals obcordate with a scale at the base 

 of the blade; pod narrowly oblong, shorter than the calyx. 



Roadsides and waste places, common in most districts and es- 

 caped from gardens, spreading by underground stolons. Natu- 

 ralized from Europe. Flowers sometimes double. Summer. 

 Called also Fuller's-herb. Boston-, chimney-, hedge- or old- 

 maid's pink. Sheepweed. Soap-root. Soapwort-gentian. World's- 

 wonder. Sweet-betty. Wild sweet-william. Lady-by-the-gate. 

 Wood's-phlox. Mock-gilliflower. 



8. VACCARIA Medic. Phil. Bot. i : 96. 1789. 



Annual glabrous and glaucous erect dichotomously branching herbs, with sessile clasping 

 ovate or lanceolate acute leaves, and rather small red or pink slender-pedicelled flowers in 

 terminal cymes. Calyx cylindric in flower, becoming sharply 5-angled and inflated in fruit, 

 5-toothed, not bracted at the base. Petals much longer than the calyx, not appendaged. 

 Stamens 10. Styles 2. Capsule 4-toothed. Seeds laterally attached; embryo curved. [Latin, 

 cow, in allusion to its value for fodder.] 



About 3 species, natives of Europe and Asia, the 

 following typical. 



i. Vaccaria Vaccaria (L.) Britton. Cow- 

 herb. Cockle. Fig. 1829. 



Saponaria Vaccaria L. Sp. PI. 409. 1753. 

 Vaccaria vnlgaris Host, Fl. Aust. I : 518. 1827. 

 Vaccaria Vaccaria Britton, in Britt. & Br. 111. Fl. 2 : 

 1897. 



Branching above, i-3 high. Leaves lanceo- 

 late or ovate-lanceolate, i'~3' long, \'-\' wide, 

 acute, connate at the base ; flowers pale red, 3"- 

 4" broad, borne in loose corymbose cymes ; calyx 

 oblong or ovate, 5"-?" long, 5-ribbed, much in- 

 flated and wing-angled in fruit; petals crenulate, 

 with no scale at the base of the blade. 



In waste places, Ontario to British Columbia, 

 Florida, Louisiana and California. Locally abundant. 

 Naturalized or adventive from Europe. Cow-basil. 

 June-Aug. 



9. DIANTHUS L. Sp. PI. 409. 1753. 

 [TUNICA Boehm. in Ludw. Def. Gen. 298. 1760.] 



Stiff perennial (rarely annual) herbs, mainly with narrow leaves. Flowers terminal, 

 solitary or cymose-paniculate, generally purple. Calyx 5-toothed, finely and equally many- 

 striate, tubular, several-bracted at the base. Petals 5, long-clawed, dentate or crenate. 

 Stamens 10. Styles 2. Ovary i-celled, stipulate. Capsule cylindric or oblong, stalked, 

 dehiscent by 4 or 5 short teeth at the summit. Seeds compressed, laterally attached. Embryo 

 straight, eccentric. [Greek, the flower of Jove.] 



Species about 200, natives of the Old World ; one of Siberia extending into arctic America. 

 Type species : Dianthus caryophyllus L. 



Annuals ; flowers clustered. 



Bracts broad, scarious. i. D.prolifer. 



Bracts narrow, herbaceous, long-pointed. 2. D, Armeria. 

 Perennials. 



Flowers solitary ; leaves linear, short. 3. D. deltoides. 



Flowers clustered ; leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate. 4. D. barbatus. 



