CARYOPnTLLACE^E. 69 



SPECIES XII.— S ILENE DIURNA. Godr. i Grm. 



Tlate CCXI. 



Lychnis diurna, SMi. Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VI. Caryoph. Tab. CCCIV. 



Fig. 5126. 

 Melandrium sylvestre, Eohl, ed. i. p. 274. Coss. Fl. de Paris, ed. ii. p. 37. 

 M. diurnum, Fries, Sum. Veg. Scand. p. 36. 



M. rubrum, Garcke, FL von Nord- und Mittel-Deutschland, ed. vL p. 66. 

 Lychnis diurna, Sihth. et Auct. Plur. 

 L. dioica, Flore rubro, Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 1579. 



Rootstock perennial, slender, producing ntunerous somewhat 

 elongated barren shoots and erect flowering stems with soft spread- 

 ing hairs, and (as well as the calices) slightly viscid. Lower leaves 

 obovate, attenuated into long footstalks ; upper leaves sessile, oval 

 or ovate, acuminate. Flowers rather numerous, slightly inclined, 

 dioecious, in a dichotomous cyme. Calyx at first elliptical-ovoid, 

 rounded, and not umbilicate at the base, slightly narrowed at the 

 apex, where there are 5 triangular acute teeth, and with 10 rather 

 indistinct nerves ; in fruit regularly roundish-ovoid, very little 

 contracted at the apex. Petals with the laminre obovate, deeply 

 cleft into 2 oblong lobes, with 2 lanceolate acute scales at the base ; 

 claw gradually enlarged into auricles on each side, where it meets 

 the lamina. Styles 5. Gynophore rudimentary, about one-eighth 

 the breadth of the capsule. Capsule globular-ovoid, opening by 

 10 revolute teeth, usually more or less cohering in pairs. 



In woods, shady hedge-banks, and on rocks by the sides of 

 streams. Very common throughout Britain, reaching the extreme 

 Korth. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Spring and Summer. 



This species is certainly closely allied to the last ; but the plant 

 is less rigid, the leaves softer and more flaccid, broader, and usually 

 more distant on the stem. Calyx much shorter and broader (espe- 

 cially that of the fertile flowers), usually tinged with deep dull red 

 or reddish-purple ; teetli without the contraction just above the 

 base, which exists in those of S. pratensis. Flowers smaller than 

 in that plant, |- to f inch long by f to 1 inch across. The petals 

 narrower, purplish rose-colour, usually deep, but sometimes pale. 

 Capsule usually not above half as long, with a much wider opening 

 at the apex, more brittle in texture, and very distinct in the way 

 in which the teeth roll backwards. The gynophore of the capsule 

 is also much more slender. 



S. pratensis and diurna have occasionally been confounded 

 through the occurrence of forms of each which approximate iu 



