THE PINK FAMILY. 159 



such an one which he has either seen, or " heard on." The starry campion 

 even with its fleecy and innocent-looking blossom has a strong reputation 

 for assuaging this disorder. Of it, Dr. Gray says, in relating some of his 

 experiences at the foot of Grandfather Mountain, in North Carolina: 



" We had frequently been told of an antidote to the bite of the rattle- 

 snake and copper-head, not unfrequent throughout this region, which is 

 thought to possess wonderful efficacy, called Turman's snake-root, after an 

 Indian doctor who first employed it ; the plant was brought to us by a man 

 who was ready to attest its virtues from his personal knowledge, and proved 

 to be the Silene stellata ! Its use was suggested by the markings of the 

 roots beneath the bark, in which these people find a fancied resemblance to 

 the skin of the rattle-snake. Nearly all the reputed antidotes are equally 

 inert ; such herbs as Impatiens pallida, etc., being sometimes employed ; so 

 that we are led to conclude that the bite of these reptiles is seldom fatal, or 

 even very dangerous in these cooler portions of the country." 



Silene Baldwlnii. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Fink. White or pale rose. Scentless. Florida and Georgia. April^May. 



FUnvers : large; growing solitary and in terminal and lateral cymes. Calyx: 

 tubular; inflated with five long-pointed teeth; slightly viscid. Corolla: with five 

 clawed petals; long; obovate; deeply fringed at the apex and ciliate along the 

 sides. Stamens: ten; their filaments but little longer than the lobes of the calyx. 

 Leaves: those about the base spatulate; those of the stem; opposite; oblong or ob- 

 lanceolate; rounded at the apex and tapering at the base; sessile ; entire; ciliate 

 and with many fine white hairs on both surfaces. Stem: six to twelve inches high; 

 silky pubescent. 



The peculiar physiognomy of this gay flower as it crops up through low, 

 shady woods would always, it would seem, proclaim it to hold a different 

 position in the kingdom of plants than its brilliant relative, the fire pink. 

 But when, on one occasion, I endeavoured to point out to a native of the 

 mountains that they were not the same pinks, he regarded me with strong 

 amazement. Such knowledge was a foolishness for which he had no time. 



S. Carolinidna, wild pink, is the name of the low plant which grows 

 usually five or eight inches high, and bears attractive, vivid pink blossoms 

 that raise themselves coquettishly above their thick clump of spatulate basal 

 leaves. On the stem the foliage is oblong, or lanceolate and sessile. The 

 long calyx is often inflated and, as the upper parts of the plant, covered with 

 a viscid pubescence. On the last day of July near the summit of one of the 

 high peaks of the Alleghanies I found a solitary blossom gleaming from the 

 crevice of a rock. 



S. Vzrgimca, fire pink, or Virginia catchfly, is perhaps the most brilliantly 

 charming member of the family as it is seen flourishing freely in a wild 



