168 THE DISINTEGRATION OF LYCHNIS. 
affinities of Si/ene and Lychnis, more especially in connection with 
the disintegration of the latter genus, the selection of such species 
as may serve for generic types will be facilitated by associating with 
them the Linnean genus Agrostemma.* 
characteristic of the or and this character has been selected 
for grouping the species into two primary subdivisions,—those i 
which the capsule is truly unilocular, and e in which the 
the secondary subdivisions of these two main groups, we will 
discuss first the affinities of the Lychnis group, and then the 
ou 
In Agrostemma Githago} the carpels are alternate with the teeth 
of the calyx, in Lychnis chalcedunica they are opposite to them; 
dryum, which includes L. dioica Linn. and L. diclinis Lag., as wel 
as those species of Silene in which the capsule is unilocular, the 
teeth of the dehiscent capsule are twice as many as the styles 
(dimerous), 
The genus Heliosperma,§ which branches off, as it were, from 
* Systema Nature (1735), ed. 2 (1740), ed. 6 (1748), p. 107; Genera Plant- 
arum (1737), n. 879, ed. 2 (1742), n. 449, ed. 5 (1754), ie bis. ce. 
t Ed. 1, p. 135, n. 380; ed. 2, p, 200, n. 450. 
} Cosson regards this as a quasi-cultivated form, of which the type is the 
Anatolian A. gracile Boiss. There are no other species known. amt 
§ Reichb. Repert. Herb. p. 206, : 
