86 XVI. CAEYOfHYIiLE^. [Saponaria. 



sessile and linear-oblong. Cymes corymbose, many-flowered. Pedicels slender. 

 Calyx ^in. long, teeth triangular, margins scarious, with 5 broad green nerves, 

 ventricose in fruit. Petals rosy, short, arose, obovate. Capsule included, broad 

 ovoid. Seeds large, globose, black, granulate. 

 Hab.: A weed in cultivation paddocks, often introduced with wheat and other seeds. 



*3. SILENE, Linn. 

 (Gummy secretion of leaves supposed like saliva.) 



Calyx 10-nerved, rarely many-nerved, 5-toothed or 5-lobed.' Petals 5, with a 

 narrow claw, and usually with a double scale. Stamens ,10- Torus usually 

 elongated. Styles usually" 3. Capsule opening in 6 or rarely 3 teeth or short 

 valves. Seeds laterally attached ; embryo curved round the albumen. — Herbs. 

 Flowers solitary or cymose, often forming unilateral spikes or an oblong thyrsus 

 or panicle. 



A very large genus, chiefly abundant in Europe, N. Africa, and temperate Asia; with a few N. 

 American and S. African species, and only introduced into Australia. 



1. S. gallica (French), Unn.; DC. Pmd. i. 371 ; Benth. Fl. Aiistr. i. 155. 

 Catohfly. A hairy, slightly viscid, much branched annual, 6in. to nearly 1ft. 

 high, erect or decumbent at the base. Lower leaves small and obovate, upper 

 ones narrow and pointed. Flowers small, nearly sessile, generally alL-turned to 

 one side, forming a simple or forked terminal spike, with a linear bract at the 

 base of each flower. Calyx very hairy, with 5 slender teeth, at first tubular, 

 afterwards ovoid and much contracted at the top. Petals very small, entire or 

 notched, pale red or white, or in one variety with a dark spot.^ — S. anglica, 

 lusitanica, cerastoides and quinquevidnera, Linn.; Eeichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. vi. t. 272, 

 273. 



Hab.: A plant probably of South European origin, now common in sandy, gravelly, and waste 

 places, especially near the sea, in most parts of the world, as in this colony. 



*4. LYCHNIS, Linn. 

 (From the Greek for lamp, alluding to brilliancy of flowers of some species.) 



Calyx inflated, 5-toothed, 10-nerved. Petals 5, claws narrow, lamina 2-fid or 

 laciniated. Stamens 10. Ovary 1 -celled, with numerous ovules ; styles 5, 

 rarely 4. Capsule toothed at the top. Seeds tuberculate or smooth. — Herbs, 

 with the habit of Silene. 



Natives of the Arctic and temperate northern regions and of the Andes of South America. 



1. Ii. githago (from the seed resembling a black aromatic grain, Gith or 

 Git, used by the Romans in cookery), Lam. Corn cockle. A tall, erect annual, 

 clothed with long, whitish, appressed hairs. Leaves long, narrow. Flowers on 

 long leafless peduncles, rather large and red, remarkable for the long green linear 

 lobes of the calyx projecting much beyond the petals ; the latter broad, undivided, 

 without scales. Stamens 10. Styles 5. Capsule opening in 5 teeth. 



Hab.: A weed of cultivation belonging to Europe or the East Mediterranean. 



5. CERASTIUM, Linn. 



(Capsules horn-shaped.) 



Sepals 5, rarely 4. Petals as many, usually notched or 2-cleft. Stamens 10 

 or fewer. Styles 5 or 4, opposite the sepals, or rarely 8. Capsule cylindrical or 

 conical, often incurved, opening at the top in twice as many teeth as styles, all 



