Silene. CAKV( )ril VLL.UK.E. 213 



rather coarse species beloiigiiig to diircreiit sections of the g<'mis are spontaneouB 

 in America. 



§ 1. Vaccauia, Dodon. (as gen.). Annual: flowers in a broad loose flat- 

 topped corymb : calyx ovate, 0-angled. — Pempt. 104 ; DC. 1. c. 

 S. VaccAkia, L. Glabrous and somewhat f;laiicous : leaves ovate or oliloiiK-laiiccolate, iiessile 

 and somewhat connate : calyx with 5 sharp lierl)aceous anj;lfs, the inlerveniiiK Jiarls iH-injj 

 wliite and scarious : coroUa rose-colored, destitute of a|i])end:i;4es. — Sjiec. i. 409; Sims. 

 Hot. Mag. t. 2290; Torr. & (Jray, Fl. i. 195 ; also variously referred Iiy aulhors to diipiut- 

 phila, Lyvhuis, or more often regarded as an inde|icndent genus, Vamirin ( V. rulijnrix, llimt, 

 Fl. Au.-it. i. 518). — Railway bulhust ami cultivated grouml, fre<|uent and sometimes trouble- 

 some in wheattields westward, where it ixars the name of "cockle"; H. July, AugUHt. 

 (Introd. from Eu.) 



§ 2. BooTiA, Neck, (as gen,). Perennials: flowers fasciculate-paniculate: 

 calyx cylindrical, not angled. — Delic. Gallo-Belg. i. 193 ; DC. 1. c. 



S. OFFICINALIS, L. 1. c. 408. (SoAPWORT, BoiNCiNO Bet.) Perennial, smooth, Ij to 2 feet 

 high: leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, 3-ribbed, 2 to 3 inches long, narrowed at tlie bas<' ; in- 

 florescence terminal, somewhat pyramidal, the flowers clustered at the ends of short branches : 

 calvx tubular, terete : petals ajjpendaged at tlie junction of the claw and the obovate retuse 

 blade, white or jyink, often double. — Eng. Bot. t. lOGO; Pursh, Fl. i. 314 ; Torr. & Gray, 

 Fl. i. 195. — Roadsides and waste ground, common ; fl. July to the end of October. (Nat. 

 from Eu.) Tricarpellary flowers are not iiifreciueut. 



6. SIL^INE, L. Catciiflv, Campion. (Name from SctXTjro?, in refer- 

 ence to the viscid excretion of many species, the Greek god having been described 

 as covered with foam; also derived directly from aiaXov, saliva.) — Syst. Nat. 

 ed. 1, & Gen. no. 372; Otth in DC. Prodr. i. 367; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 1HI>; 

 Fenzl in Lcdeb. Fl. Ross. i. 303 ; Reichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. vi. t. 2G9-30I ; 

 Benth. &, Hook. Gen. i. 147; Rohrb. Monogr. der Gatt. Silene; Wats. Proc. 

 Am. Acad. x. 340, &, Bibl. Index, lOG; Robinson, Proc. Am. Acad, xxviii. 130. 



A large genus of attractive plants inhabiting chiefly the northern temperate 



parts of the Old World, but also well represented in North America, esj.ecially 

 in the Pacific region. Although the members of this genus present considerable 

 diversity of habit and floral characters, yet the greater part of the species do not 

 fall into well marked groups, and the elaborate subdivision of the genus suggested 

 by Rohrbaeh cannot be satisfactorily carried out among our American phmts. 

 Many species, together with several nearly related members of Lt/rhnis. luive 

 been by many foreign writers transferred to MiUmdrium, Riihl. (Deutsi-h. Fl. 

 ed. 2, ii.'274 ; Melandnjum, Reichenb. Fl. Germ. Ex.S24). While a natural group 

 is thus formed, it is so poorly circumscribed by technical characters as to W 

 almost useless in classification. The i)artial septation of the cajisule, usu:»lly 

 adduced as the strongest character for the division of Sllnie and Mtlnmiriuw, is 

 wholly untrustworthy in American species. Thus ^". Virf/inira, gt-nendly n- 

 ferred by continental authors to Meloinirium, often shows the p:irtial 8epl;iti«>n of 

 a Silene, while .S. muhinervia. a good Silene by habit and iifhiiity to others of 

 the § Conoimorp/ia, has often no trace of septation. The numlH-r of carpels, the 

 sole technical distinction between this and the next g.-nus, is in some cases unfor- 

 tunately variable. Specimens with 4 or 5 carpels have been noted e«iK'cially in 



