PINK FAMILY 



(Caryophyllaceci) 



Herbs, usually with swollen stem joints, simple opposite 

 leaves, and regular perfect flowers; petals and sepals commonly 

 five each; stamens 5 or 10; styles 2 to 5. Ovary superior. 



INDIAN PINK (Silene laciniata, Cav.). Flowers brilliant 

 red, the petals deeply slashed into four narrow divisions, and 

 borne at the summit of stems usually a foot or two, but some- 

 times 5 feet high. Common in Southern California and in 

 one of its forms eastward to New Mexico, blooming in late 

 spring and summer on dry hills and amid chaparral. There is a 

 stickiness about the stems and herbage that brings unsuspi- 

 cious small insects to grief a character common to all species 

 of Silene, and suggesting the common name Catch-fly applied 

 to many. 



Quite similar to this Indian Pink of the South is Silene cali- 

 fornica, Dur., also called Indian Pink, which occurs along 

 roadsides and in open woods and canons of Central and North- 

 ern California. The plant is generally smaller than S. lacin- 

 iata, but the corolla is even more showy. 



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