AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 97 



XIGHT-FLOWERIN^G CATCHFLY. 



Sileiie noctijiora. L. 

 Order CaryophyllacevE : Pink Family. 



This species of catchfly occurs sparingly ia Maine in cultivated 

 and waste grounds and roadsides. We found quite a number of 

 specimens the past season upon lawns and waste ground in Orono, 

 probably introduced in gra^s seed. 



It is a coarse plant from three inches to three feet high, with viscid, 

 pubescent leaves. The lower leaves spatulate ; the upper lanceo- 

 late and pointed. Short, leafy branches, often from the axils of 

 the opposite leaves. Flowers in loose cymes, pedicilate, and usually 

 bearing a single flower, though sometimes more. The central flower 

 of the inflorescence opening first 



Calyx large after flowering becoming ovoid, greenish white with 

 ten dark green nerves tending to anastomose, the teeth attenuate. 

 Petals creamy white, often with a tinge of pink, bifid. Flowers 

 about one-half inch across, bearing a ten-toothed crown, closing in 

 the bright sunshine, but open in the shade and on cloudy days. 

 Fragrant. Plant annual, though seeds from the early flower- 

 ing ones soon sprout, aud, we think, often blossom and seed before 

 fall. The plate on the opposite page shows a plant reduced about 

 one-fifth, (a) Cross section of flower. (6) Portiouj of calyx 

 showing the anastomosing veins, (c) A mature capsule with the 

 calyx removed showing dehiscence. 



