CATCH-FLIES 
colour-disposition. Fig. 1 is the natural form of the flower as found 
naturalised on old walls occasionally. Fig. 2 is a section. 
Plate 37. D. sinensis, or Chinese Pink. The same general form is 
observable, but the limb of the petal is more round and full. Fig. 1, a 
section through flower; 2, a seed, natural size and enlarged; 3, a seedling. 
Plate 38. D. plumarius, or Common Pink. Those figured may be 
regarded as typical forms, upon which gardeners have made many and 
considerable improvements. Fig. 1, section through flower. 
CATCH-FLIES 
Natural Order Caryophyllk®. Genus Silene 
SlLENE (from Greek, sialon , saliva, in allusion to the stickiness of certain 
species). A large genus of annual and perennial herbs having many of 
the characters of Dianthus. They have the sepals joined into a tubular 
calyx, more or less inflated, with five teeth and ten nerves. The petals 
are five in number, each with a long harrow claw; the blade with two 
scales at its base, which produce a crown-like effect at the mouth of the 
tube in some species. Stamens ten; ovary one- to three-celled; styles 
usually three, occasionally two or five. There are about eight hundred 
known species, distributed over the north temperate zone, of which number, 
eight are natives of Britain. 
The species of Silene at present found in our gardens 
do not appear to have a long horticultural record, unless 
such belongs to S. Armeria and S. nutans. S. Armeria, a Continental 
species, appears to have been in our gardens for so long a period that the 
date of its introduction is not recorded; in fact, it is regarded in the 
old gardening books as though it were a native. Even so recently as in 
Loudon’s Hortus Britannicus, it is described as a plant of British corn¬ 
fields. It was formerly called Sweetwilliam, and the monkish Latin 
name Armeria given to it, a name that also does duty to distinguish a 
genus of plants. S. muscipula was introduced from Spain three hundred 
years ago, but is not now a well-known garden plant Similar remarks 
apply to S. fruticosa, from Sicily (1629), and S. viridijlora, from Spain 
(1739), which were among the few species formerly grown in gardens, 
but do not appear to be cultivated now. A hundred and twenty years 
ago the list of Silenes cultivated consisted of seven kinds, i.e. those 
already named, with the addition of S. quinquevvlnera (a var. of S. 
galliea) and S. bupleuroides, of which Loudon fixes the date of introduction 
