218 PLANTS GROWING IN LIGHT SOIL. 



noting its whereabouts, to avoid it ; as in the late season it 

 sheds abroad very little of the milk of human kindness in 

 attaching its burrs to the unfortunate. 



WILD PINK. (Plate CXII.) 



Silene Caroliniana. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Pink. Rose pink, Scentless. Eastern, middle and April-June, 



to nearly white, southern states. 



Flowers : clustered at the ends of the flower-stalks. Calyx : long ; of five 

 sepals that form a tube. Corolla : of five notched petals with claws that are 

 enclosed in the calyx-tube. Stamens : ten. Pistil: one ; styles, three. Leaves: 

 those from the base, long, narrow, clustered; terminating in hairy petioles; 

 those of the stem lanceolate, opposite. Stem : four to eight inches high ; 

 branching ; vigourous. 



Let us cast a glance at these lovely deep, rosy pinks as we 

 pause by some rocky ledge in the open May woods. They sit 

 so jauntily upon their stems and have such an assured expres- 

 sion that we feel they are whispering to each other very spicy 

 things ; and who knows but about us ? Indeed, the flowers 

 have quite as good a right to criticise our manners and appear- 

 ance as we have to chatter so much about them. 



FIRE PINK. VIRGINIA CATCHFLY. (Plate CVII.) 

 Silene Virginica. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Pink. Scarlet. Scentless. New York southward All summer. 



and -westward. 



Flowers : few ; growing on pedicels in a cyme. Calyx : tubular ; five-cleft ; 

 sticky ; nodding in fruit. Corolla : of five lanceolate, deeply two-cleft petals. 

 Stamens: ten. Pistil: one; styles, three. Leaves: small; lanceolate; thin. 

 Stem : one to two feet high ; erect ; slender ; pubescent. 



The viscid substance that covers the calyx and stems of the 

 fire pink has led emblematists, whose hearts have been full of 

 compassion for the hapless insects held to die by its means, to 

 associate the idea of remorseless fate with the plant. It is not 

 thought that it assimilates its victims for nourishment as is cus- 

 tomary with the insectivorous plants ; and its large sticky 

 calyx is therefore to be regretted, as it mars to a great extent 



