34° ALPINE FLOWERS. Part II. 



as I observed in M. Boissier's garden, in Switzerland. Flowers 

 ill summer, rather late, and is easily increased by seeds. 



SILENE MAEITIMA.— ^«fl Catchfly. 



A British plant, not uncommon on sand, shingle, or rocks by 

 the sea, or on wet rocks on mountains, forming level carpets of 

 smooth glaucous leaves, from which spring generally solitary 

 flowers about an inch across, and white, with purple inflated 

 calyces. The handsome double variety of this plant, S. maritima 

 fl. pL, is well worthy of culture not only for its flowers but for 

 the dense, sea-green, spreading carpet of leaves which it forms, 

 and which make it particularly suitable for the margins of 

 raised borders, for hanging over the faces of stones in the 

 rougher parts of rockwork, or for the front edge of the mixed 

 border. The flowers appear in June, and, in the case of the 

 double variety, rarely rise more than a couple of inches above 

 the leaves, which form a turf about two inches deep. Mr. Ben- 

 tham unites this plant with the tall, ugly, and straggling Bladder 

 Campion {S. inflatd), but they are distinct, emphatically so con- 

 sidered from a gardening point of view, one being quite a weed 

 and the other an ornamental plant. 



SILENE PENNSTLVANICA.— PKz/rf Pink. 



The wild Pink of the Americans is a dwarf and handsome plant, 

 with narrow spoon-shaped and nearly smooth root-leaves, those 

 on the stems lance-shaped, forming dense patches, and pro- 

 ' ducing clusters of six or eight purplish-rose flowers, about an 

 inch across, notched, and borne on stems from four to seven 

 inches high, somewhat sticky, and hairy. A native of many 

 parts of North America, in sandy, rocky, or gravelly places, 

 flowering from April to June, and groXving very freely in deep 

 sandy soil. This plant is a fine ornament to rockwork, and will 

 probably prove very useful for borders, in both positions requiring 

 a certain degree of shade. It has only recently been introduced 

 to cultivation, and is increased freely by seeds or cuttings. 



SILENE V^SVSllAO.— Pigmy Catchfly. 



A RARE and interesting species from the Tyrol, resembling the 

 Cusliion Pink of our own mountains in its dwarf firm tufts of shin- 



