a 



CARYOPHYLLACEAE. 



[VOL. II. 



3. SILENE L. Sp. PI. 416. 1753. 



Annual or perennial herbs, with clustered or solitary, mainly pink red or white flowers. 

 Calyx more or less inflated, tubular, ovoid or campanulate, 5-toothed or 5-cleft, lo-many- 

 nerved, not bracted at the base. Petals 5, narrow, clawed. Stamens 10. Styles 3 (rarely 4 

 or 5); ovary i-celled, or incompletely 2-4-celled. Pod dehiscent by 6 or rarely 3 apical teeth. 

 Seeds mainly spiny or tubercled. [Greek, saliva, in allusion to the viscid secretions of 

 many species ] 



About 250 species of wide geographic distribution. In addition to the following, some 35 

 others occur in the southern and western parts of the continent. 

 Dwarf, arctic-alpine; flowers solitary. 



Krect or ascending herbs; flowers clustered (sometimes solitary in nos. 3-7). 

 Leaves or some of them verticillate in 4's. 

 Leaves all opposite. 



Calyx much inflated and bladdery. 

 I 'lowers few, leafy-bracted. 

 1 "lowers numerous, in leafless cymes. 

 Calyx merely expanded by the ripening pod. 

 Flowi-rs cymose or paniculate. 



Day-blooming; flowers rarely white, mostly pink or red. 

 Perennials, more or less viscid-pubescent. 



Petals 2-cleft, 2-lobed, or irregularly incised, scarlet or crimson. 

 leaves lanceolate or spatulate; flowers numerous 

 Flowers in slender panicles, nodding. 

 Flowers in terminal cymes, erect. 

 Leaves broadly oval ; flowers few OT solitary. 

 Petals erose, entire, or emarginate. 

 Petals scarlet; plant 3 -4 tall. 

 Petals pink; plant 4'-io' high. 

 Annuals, glutinous at or below the nodes. 

 Calyx ovoid; flowers small, paniculate. 

 Calyx club-shaped; flowers largo. cym~r. 

 Night-blooming; flowers large, white. 

 Flowers spicate or racemose, short-pedicelled. 



Spicate raceme simple; flowers small. 13. 5. 



Raceme forked; flowers 6"-8" broad. i |. \. dickotomA. 



Flowers axillary and terminal, sleiider-pedicelk-d; western. 15. .S. 



1. 5". acattlis. 



2. S. Stella ta. 



3. 5. alba. 



4. S. rulgaris. 



5. 5". >in/iins. 



6. 5". I'irginica. 



7. 5. rotnndifolia. 



8. 5. rcgia. 



9. S. Caroliniana. 



10. S. anth'i'hina. 



11. S. Armeria. 



12. 5. noctiflora. 



i. Silene acaulis L. Moss Campion. (Fig. 1440.) 

 Silent ac aulis L. Sp. I'l. Kd. 2, 603. 1762. 



Perennial, puberulent or glabrous, branched, densely 

 tufted, i '-3' high. Leaves sessile, crowded, linear, 4 // -6 // 

 long, about W wide, obtuse or acutish at the apex, the 

 margins ciliate-serrulate; flowers solitary at the ends of the 

 branches, sessile or slender-peduncled, 4 // -6 // broad, purple 

 or purplish; calyx campanulate, glabrous, 4 // high; petals 

 entire or emargiuatc, with a scale at the base of the blade; 

 pod oblong, equalling or exceeding the calyx. 



Summits of tin- \Vhitr Mountains, N. H.; Gasp6, Quebec; Cape 

 Breton Inland. Labrador and throughout arctic America, south in 

 tin- higher Rocky Mountains to Arizona. Also in arctic and 

 alpine Kurope and Asia. Called also Cushion Pink. Summer. 



2. Silene stellata (L.) Ait. Starry Cam- 

 pion. (Fig. 1441.) 



Cucubalus stellalus L. Sp. PI. 414. I75V 

 Silene stellata Ait. f. Hort. Kew. 3: 84. ' 1811. 



Perennial, erect, 2-3^ high, densely and min- 

 utely rough-pubescent throughout. Leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, 2'-$' long, }^'-\ f wide, ver- 

 ticillate in 4's or the lowest opposite, their margins 

 finely ciliate; flowers white, 7 // -io' / broad, in pani- 

 cled cymes, forming a large showy inflorescence; 

 calyx campanulate, inflated, 7 // -8 // high, its teeth 

 triangular, acute; petals crownless, fimbriate, about 

 equalling the stamens; pod globose-ovoid, alxiut 

 the length of the calyx. 



In woods, Rhode Island to Niagara and Minnesota, 

 south to South Carolina and Arkansas. June-Aug. 



Silene ovata Pursh, which has the habit of this spe- 

 cies but the leaves opposite, is recorded by Pursh from 

 " the western parts of Virginia and Carolina," but is not definitely known from Virginia. 



