The White Campion 



flowers droop dully, shabbily. There is no beauty 



to be found in it ; it seems to have no part in the 



gaiety of the flowers around, and it finds no place 



in the children's bright nosegays. Not for it are 



the homely names that speak of affection or of 



famiUarity. When flower-lovers notice it at all, it 



is just " The White Campion," and nothing else. 



But all the same, it is a plant with character, and 



behind its drabness lie points of considerable interest 



and possibilities of loveliness. Perhaps this explains 



a curious fact about its names. The majority of 



wayside plants possess a number of common names, 



which are all brought to a focus, as it were, in one 



definite, unvarying Latin name, for which botanists 



are responsible. This plant, however, has but one 



usual homely name, while the botanists have not 



agreed very well about its formal name, and we 



find it described as Lychnis vespertina, Lychnis 



dioica, and Silene pratense among others, for reasons 



which will later appear. However, the first name 



seems now to be the one settled for it. 

 72 169 



