56 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



branous, bladdery, ovoid, faintly 20-nerved, witli anastomosing 

 veins between the nerves, loosely enveloping the capsule. Capsule 

 with imperfect partitions. 



SPECIES I— SI LENE INPLATA. Sm. 



Plate CXCIX. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VI. Caryoph. Tab. CCXCIX. CCC. Fig. 5120. 

 Cucubalus Behen, Linn. Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 164. 



Eootstock slender, almost woody, with rather few ascending 

 elongated barren shoots and erect or ascending branched flowering 

 stems. Lower leaves obovate or oblanceolate ; upj)er ones ovate, 

 oblong-ovate or lanceolate-acuminate, sessile. Flowers drooping, 

 generally numerous, in an irregularly diehotomous cyme. Calyx 

 ovoid, umbilicate at the base, with 5 deltoid teeth at the apex, 

 where it is slightly contracted. Petals with the laminse oblong- 

 obovate, bipartite, with rather narrow oblong - oblanceolate not 

 contiguous lobes, and 2 small bosses at the base, but no distinct 

 scales. Gynophore shorter than the capsule. Capsule globular- 

 ovoid. 



Var. a, genidna. 



"Whole plant entirely glabrous. 



Var. 3, ■piibenda. 



Stem and leaves more or less thickly clothed with very short 

 curled hairs. 



Roadsides and borders of fields and pastures, particularly 

 in chalky and sandy districts. Rather common and generally 

 distributed, though more rare in the North of Scotland. Var. a 

 more common than var. ^. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



Stems decumbent at the base, 9 inches to 3 feet high, branched 

 especially near the base. Leaves very variable in shape and size ; 

 those on the main stem \\ to 3 inches long, those of the branches 

 and barren shoots smaller. Uppermost bracts membranous. 

 Peduncles equalling or exceeding the calyx. Plowers | inch long 

 by f inch across, or a little more. Calyx glabrous, whitish green, 

 often tinged or veined with pale pi;rple, with the nerves darker, and 

 united by anastomosing veins. Petals white, with the claw dilated 

 into an auricle on each side at the top ; scales represented by 2 small 

 irregular swellings. Styles 3 to 5. Capsule included in the calyx, 

 more than twice as long as the gynophore, nearly globular but 



