CAEYOPHYLLACEAE (PINK FAMILY) 



145 



fragrance, and open in the daytime; petals deeply notched, red, 

 or often nearly white ; calyx on staminate plants tubular but on 

 fertile plants becoming nearly globular, the teeth short and 

 acute. Capsules large, one-celled, many-seeded. (Fig. 96.) 

 Means of control the same as for White Cockle. 



WHITE COCKLE 



Lychnis dlba, Mill 

 (Lychnis vespertlna, Sib.) 



Other English names: Evening Lychnis, White Campion. 



Introduced. Biennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : Late June to September. 



Seed-time: August to October. 



Range: Eastern and middle United 



States and Canada. 

 Habitat: Grain fields, meadows, and 



waste places. 



This plant develops a thick, fleshy 

 root, from which it sends up several 

 slender, branching stems, one to two feet 

 in height, somewhat hairy and viscid. 

 Leaves long ovate to lance-shaped, the 

 lower ones tapering to margined petioles, 

 the upper ones smaller, acute, and ses- 

 sile. Flowers in loose panicles, usually 

 dioecious, numerous, white or often 

 tinged with pink, fragrant, each about 

 an inch broad, opening in the evening 

 and closing after sunrise the next day ; 

 each of the five petals is deeply notched 

 at the outer edge, and at the inner point 

 is a pair of white, scale-like bracts, 

 narrowing the throat of the flower which 

 is fertilized by long-tongued, night-flying 

 moths. Sterile flowers have usually ten 

 stamens. Calyx of the fertile flowers 

 much inflated, crimson-tinged along the p IG 

 hairy ribs. Styles five. Capsules one- 



97. White Cockle 

 (Lychnis alba). X f 



