CARYOPHYLLACEAE. 



Vol. II. 



1 6. Silene Menziesii Hook. Menzies' Pink. 

 Fig. 1816. 



Silene Menziesii Hook. Fl. Bor, Am. i : 90. pi. 30, 1830, 



Perennial, slender, ascending or decumbent, leafy, 

 widely branching, minutely and densely glandular- 

 pubescent, 6'-i8' high. Leaves sessile, or the low- 

 est narrowed into a petiole, oval, ovate-lanceolate 

 or slightly oblanceolate, acute or acuminate at each 

 end, minutely ciliate on the margins, i'-2i' long; 

 flowers axillary and terminal, numerous, slender- 

 pcduncled, white, 4"-S" long; petals 2-cleft, crown- 

 less, longer than the 5-toothed calyx ; capsule about 

 the length of the calyx; seeds black, minutely tu- 

 berculate. 



In damp soil, Assiniboia to western Nebraska, Mis- 

 souri, British Columbia, California and New Mexico. 

 June-Aug. 



4. LYCHNIS [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 436. 1753. 



Herbs, mainly erect, some with the aspect of Silene. Calyx ovoid, tubular, or inflated, 

 5-toothed, lo-nerved. Petals S, narrowly clawed, the blade entire, 2-cleft, or laciniate, gener- 

 ally crowned. Stamens 10. Ovary i-celled or incompletely several-celled at the basej many- 

 ovuled ; styles S, opposite the calyx-teeth (occasionally 4 or rarely even 3). Capsule dehis- 

 cent by 10 or fewer apical teeth or valves. [From the Greek, for lamp, in allusion to the 

 flame-colored flowers of some species.] 



A genus of about 35 species, natives of the north temperate and arctic zones. In addition to 

 the following about 8 others occur in the northern and western parts of North America. Type 

 species : Lychnis chalcedonica L, 



Calyx-teeth not twisted ; plants pubescent, glandular or glabrate. 



Flowers cymose or panicled ; calyx enlarged by the ripening pod. 

 Fruiting calyx much enlarged, ovoid, obovoid or globose. 

 Plants viscid-pul)escent ; flowers usually dioecious. 

 Flowers white or pink, opening in the evening. 

 Flowers red, opening in the morning. 

 Plant roughish-pubescent ; flowers perfect, scarlet. 

 Fruiting calyx campanulate or tubular. 



Petals large, deeply laciniate ; introduced species. 

 Petals small, entire or emarginate ; native western species. 

 Flowers solitary ; calyx inifated ; plants arctic-alpine. 

 Flower nodding ; pod erect. 

 Flower and pod erect or nearly so. 

 Calyx-teeth twisted ; plant densely white-woolly all over. 



1. L. alba. 



2. L. dioica. 



3. L. chalcedonica, 



4. L. Flos-cuculi. 



5. L. Drummondii. 



6. L. apetala. 



7. L. affinis. 



8. L. Coronaria, 



I. Lychnis alba Mill. White Campion. 

 Evening Lychnis. Fig. 1817. 



Lychnis alba Mill. Card. Diet. Ed. 8, no. 4. 1768. 

 Lychnis vespertina Sibth. Fl. Oxon. 146. 1794. 



Biennial, viscid-pubescent, loosely and freely 

 branching, i°-2° high. Leaves ovate-oblong or 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute, 1-3' long, the lower 

 tapering into a margined petiole, the upper 

 sessile; flowers few, loosely paniculate, 9"-i2" 

 broad, white or pinkish, opening at dusk and 

 remaining open into the morning of the next 

 day, slightly fragrant, often dioecious; calyx at 

 first tubular, 6"-g" long, about 2" wide, swell- 

 ing with the ripening pod so as to become ovoid 

 and 6"-7" in diameter, its teeth short, lanceo- 

 late ; petals obovate. 2-cleft, crowned ; teeth of 

 the capsule 2-cleft, nearly erect. 



In waste places and on ballast. Nova Scotia to On- 

 tario, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. Ad- 

 ventive or naturalized from Europe. Snake-, cuckoo- 

 or thunder-flower. Bull- or cow-rattle. White-robin. 

 Summer. 



