i6o 



THE PINK FAMILY 



state ; a gleam of flaming scarlet often proclaiming its presence in some 

 dry, midsummer woods, as it waves conspicuously its two-cleft petals. 



It is moreover a notable catchfly, the 



long viscid calyx being capable of 



holding within its grasp many a small 



mite that has had the temerity to 



climb the stem with the intention of 



plundering its nectai*. From one 



to two feet high the plant grows 



and has, as well as stem leaves, a 



tuft of slender, spatulate basal ones. Although 



its range extends to the southern part of New 



York it is in the south that it truly is a feature 



of the flora. 



S. 7-ot2t}idifbIia, round-leaved catchfly, is 

 N,.^^ found through Georgia and Kentucky from 

 where it extends into southern Ohio. Like the 

 fire pink its cleft or laciniate petals are a brilliant scar- 

 let, but they are only about half as long as the prom- 

 inent calyx. This fact and that the orbicular-ovate 

 leaves have rather a coarse look prevent it from being 

 as beautiful a plant. The broadly spatulate basal 

 leaves taper into winged petioles and the plant is 

 covered with a densely viscid pubescence. 



Silene Virginica. 



PINE=BARREN SANDWORT. {Plate LIL) 

 Aroidria Caroliniana. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Pink. White. Scentless. Florida to Xe7v Jersey and New York. April-July. 



Flowers: small; growing in cymes at the end of the branches. Calyx : with five,. 

 ovate-oblong sepals. Petals: five, oblanceolate; considerably longer than the 

 calyx. Stamens: ten. Styles: two to four. Leaves: opposite; growing on 

 branches tufted about the base and on the flowering stem; imbricated; needle- 

 shaped; sessile; seldom over one quarter of an inch long ; grooved on the inner 

 surface; recurved. Flowering stems, ascending; those about the base, woody and 

 tufted. 



Very pretty is this plant as it grows in the white sand of the coastal 

 plain. Its little leaflets, which one might almost think were stipules, are 

 always in pairs, and were it not for the tufted growth of leaves about the 

 plant's base, the prim-looking blossoms would appear to be almost without 

 foliage. 



