CARYOPHYLLACEyE 51 



Fields and waste places, rare. April-June. Saunier near Gassin, H.S.T., in 

 1907 ; borders of the Gapeau near la Roquette. 



CUCUBALUS L. 



C. baccifer L. A pubescent branching plant, 1-2 ft. high. Leaves ovate, 

 acute, shortly petioled, soft. Flowers greenish-white, pendent, shortly peduncled, 

 in a loose leafy dichotomous cyme. Calyx very spreading, bell-shaped, with 

 3 lanceolate lobes. Petals separate, bifid. Stamens, 10. Styles 3. Fruit globu- 

 lar, shining, black. 



Hedges and thickets. June-September. Very local in the Var. 



SILENE L. 



* Petals without scales at the throat. 



S. Cucubalus Wibel. = S. inflata Sm. Bladder Campion. Plant 

 glaucous and usually glabrous, 1-2 ft. high. Leaves variable, ovate, obovate, or 

 oblong-lanceolate. Flowers few, white (or rarely pinkish), drooping, proter- 

 androus, in erect dichotomous panicles or cymes. Capsule globose, top conical. 

 Petals deeply bifid. 



Fields, hill-sides, and dry places. April-June. In the Var it appears as the 

 var. vesicaria Schrader. 



S. Otites Sm. Stem about a foot high, almost glabrous, viscous above, 

 erect. Lower leaves spathulate, more or less in a rosette, upper leaves linear, 

 widely separated. Calyx short, bell-shaped. Petals entire. Flowers greenish- 

 yellow, small, dioecious, almost in whorls and forming a long panicle. 



Hill-sides and dry places. May-July. 



S. italica Pers. Plant hairy, branched, viscous in upper portion. Lower 

 leaves oblong or spathulate, upper ones almost linear. Calyx elongate, club-shaped. 

 Flowers white, in pyramidal panicles ; petals bifid. Capsule oblong, equalling 

 the hairy carpophore. 



Woods, slopes, and grassy places. April-July. 



** Petals with scales at the throat ; capsule sessile in the calyx, or on a very 

 short carpophore. 



S. COnica L. An annual greyish-green downy plant, erect and about 6 in. 

 high. Leaves linear, lanceolate. Calyx conical, inflated, with slender teeth and 

 30 nerves; capsule ovoid, conical without carpophore, rather shorter than 

 calyx. Petals small, bifid, pink. 



Sandy fields and sea-shores, local. May-July. 



S. conoidea L. (very rare), S. reflexa Ait., and S. brachypetala Rob.et 

 Cast, are also recorded. The last has short petals and is allied to nocturna. 



S. gallicaL. An annual glandular hairy plant about a foot high. Lower 

 leaves oblong-spathulate, upper ones linear-acute. Flowers subsessile, whitish 

 or pink, in unilateral racemes. Calyx covered with long spreading hairs, at first 

 cylindrical, then ovoid, with nerves usually red. Petals entire, emarginate or 

 tridentate. 



Fields and sandy places, common. April-June. 



There are several varieties, a very beautiful one with pale pink petals with 

 large dark crimson spot at the base being S. quinquevulnera L. 



It grows in similar places, and is often as common or even commoner on the 

 littoral and especially in the Var. 



S. nocturna L. An annual glandular hairy species, erect, 1-2 ft. high. 

 Lower leaves obovate, spathulate, upper ones narrow, lanceolate or linear. 

 Calyx cylindrical oblong. Flowers in one or two racemes, unilateral, sessile; 

 petals deeply bifid with narrow divisions, white above, livid beneath, sweet- 

 scented at night when they open. Capsule ovate-oblong on a very short carpo- 

 phore. 



Road-sides and sandy places. May-June. 



4* 



