152 RED CAMPION. 



our cornfields. Both the Red and White 

 Campions are frequent flowers, and both are 

 dioecious ; that is, they have stamens in one 

 flower and pistils in another. The ovary or 

 seed-vessel is always much larger in the white 

 than in the red kind. 



The genus Lychnis has, like that of Silene, 

 the English name of Catchfly, on account of the 

 clammy secretion on its stems and foliage ; 

 though this is not quite so abundant in any 

 of our native Lychnises as in some species of 

 the allied genus. The flowers and other 

 characteristics of the two genera are indeed 

 so similar, that only a practised botanist dis- 

 covers the difference. The name of Lychnis is 

 taken fi^om a lamp, because the cottony down 

 of some of the species has been burnt for 

 wicks. We have, besides the Red or White 

 Campion, three other species. Two of them 

 grow on mountains, but one is a common 

 flower. This is the Meadow Lychnis or Ragged 

 Robin {Lijolmis Flos Cuculi), w^ith rose-coloured 

 jagged petals. It is common during June iu 

 moist meadows. 



