626 SILENE. [CLASS X. OEDEE XII. 



without a scale at the "base. Stamens on slender filaments, longer 

 than the calyx. Styles with downy stigmas, varying in number from 

 three to five. Capsule elliptical, longer than the calyx, and enveloped 

 by it, opening at the apex with six lanceolate teeth. 



Habitat.— Ssiniy fields ; chiefly in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cam- 

 bridgeshire. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. , 



Sect. 4. CoNoiMORPHA. Otth. De Cand. Prod. p. 1, p. 371. 

 Stem elongated. Calyx conical, umhilicated at the base, the 

 limb with long teeth. 



5. S. coni'ca, Linn. (Fig. 711.) Striated Corn Catchfly. Downy, 

 leaves linear, soft ; panicle forked ; calyx when in fruit conical, 

 umhilicated at the base, ribbed, with thirty stria ; the limb of fiv& 

 subulate teeth ; petals obcordate, crowned ; capsule oblong, ovate. 



English Botany, t. 922.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 294. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 206. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 45. 



Root small, long, tapering. Stem erect, from a few inches to two 

 feet high, round, clothed with pubescence, leafy, simple or branched. 

 Leaves opposite, linear, sessile, and united at the base into a short 

 sheath, very downy, with a stout mid-rib, and mostly one or two 

 lateral ones. Inflorescence a forked panicle, with a solitary flower from 

 the axis, sometimes the stem is terminated with a solitary flower. 

 Calyx when in flower narrow, swelling when in fruit into a conical 

 shape, and becoming depressed in an umhilicated manner, the limb 

 in five erect acute awl-shaped long teeth, striated, with thirty nearly 

 equal prominent downy ribs. Petals with a small inversely heart-shaped 

 small limb, of a purple colour, the claw tapering, wedge-shaped, 

 crowned with a small cleft scale. Stamens with slender filaments, 

 shorter than the calyx. Styles with slender stigmas, about as long as 

 the calyx. Capsule oblong, ovate, smooth, as long as the tube of the 

 calyx, and enveloped in it. Seeds numerous, kidney-shaped, dotted 

 with lines of elevated points. 



Habitat. — Sandy fields ; rare. Near Romney and Sandowu Castle, 

 Kent ; near Bury. — Mrs. M. A. Blake. 

 Annual; flowering in July. 



The flower is small, but in the evening very fragrant, and is of a 

 purple colour. It is nearly allied to S. conoidea, Linn., which is 

 distinguished by its linear lanceolate nearly smooth leaves, the petals 

 being entire or orenaled, and t^ie capsule globoso-depressed. Lindley 

 has given it as found in England, and upon the authority of Hudson 

 and Sir J. Smith ; but as there are some doubts as to its really being 

 indigenous, we have not given it a place in the list of our Flora, though 

 it may yet be found to have a just claim, not having been hitherto 

 generally distinguished from .S". conica. 



Sect. 5. Stachymorpha. Otth. De Cand. Prod. p. 1, p. 371. 



