SILENE. 



various other places. The root is perennial, rather woody. 

 Stems feveral, herbaceous, ereft, a foot or more in height, 

 downy ; leafy below ; racemofe, in the firft inltance, above, 

 the flower-branches fhortifh, turned to one fide, downy 

 and vifcid, panicled, or imperfectly foriied, each of tliree 

 or four drooping vilnte Jlo-wers, which expand in an evening. 

 Calyx obovatc, near three-quarters of an inch long, ten- 

 ribbed, fliglitly downy. The loweft. kavts are fpatulate, 

 on long Italics. 



S. paradoxa. Soap-wort Catchfly. Linn. Sp. PI. 1673. 

 Wilid. n. 13. Jacq. Hort. Vind. v. 3. 45. t. 84. (Lychnis 

 vifcofa peregrins noftiflora odorata ; Zanon. Id. 126. t. 50.) 

 — Panicle racemofe. Petals inverfely heart-fliaped ; their 

 creft of two acute lobes. Calyx downy Leaves obovato- 

 lanceolate, fmooth. — Native of the fouth of Europe. Miller 

 cultivated it for the Dover Catchfly, fo that it requires a 

 place in the Hortus Ktiven/is, though erroneoufly admitted 

 into Fl. Brit. 467, as is explained at' 1397 of the fame 

 work. , What the older botanifts found at Dover, and which 

 may be (een in Petiver's and Buddie's colleftions in the 

 Britifli Mufeum, is ftill an undetermined plant. We greatly 

 fufped, after all the confufion that has attended it, that this 

 Dover Catchfly may be, as Mr. Hudfon made it, the true 

 Cucubalvs vifcofus of Linnsus, (fee our next fpccies but one,) 

 a Swedilh Silene, for which Tournefort's Lychnis orientalis 

 waxima, buglnJflfoKu undulato, figured in his Voyage, v. 2. 148, 

 is erroneoufly quoted. Botanills of late have found nothing 

 at Dover but Silene nutans, varying in fize and hairinefs. 

 The true S. paradoxa is a nearly fmooth plant, not very un- 

 like Snponaria rjfficinalis in flowers, but more flender in habit. 

 The lower leaves are inclining to fpatulate ; the upper are 

 linear-lanceplate. Calyx above an inch long, downy. Petals 

 large, pale red. 



S. longijlora. Long-fmooth-flowercd Catchfly. Ehrh. 

 Beitr. V. 7. 144. PI. Seleft. n. 75. Willd. n. 16. Ait. 

 n. 27. " Waldit. et Kitaib. Hung. v. 1. 1. 8." (S. juncea ; 

 Roth Catal. V. i. 54. Lychnis p'-a;longis foliis et calyce ; 

 Barrel. Ic. 63. t. 382.) — Panicle flender, racemofe. Petals 

 in two deep, rounded, divaricated fegments ; their creft of 

 two acute lobes. Leaves linear-lanceolate, fmooth, as well 

 as the flightly ribbed calyx. — Barrelier fays this plant grows 

 in dry ftony fituations in Tufcany. There can be no dovibt 

 as to his fynonym, though entirely overlooked by the 

 German writers, who mention Hungary as the country of 

 their plant. This is a tall, flender, elegant, perennial fpecics, 

 quite fmooth, with a purple tinge on x\\z Jlem and caly^. 

 The latter is above an inch long, flender, nearly cylindrical, 

 with ten obfolete ribs ; its furfacc even and poliflied, with- 

 out any pubefccnce. Claws of the petals longer than the 

 calyx ; their limb white, tinged externally with red. Leaves 

 three or fo\u- inches long, half an inch broad, flightly glau- 

 cous ; the radical ones numerous, on long ftalks. This fpecies 

 bears a confiderablc afiinity to S. paradoxa, but the long 

 racemofe panicle, and fmooth even calyx, aflbrd clear marks 

 of diftinftion. 



S. infcofa. Clammy Hairy Catchfly. Ait. n. 3. (Cncu- 

 balus vifcrtfus ; Linn. Sp. PI. 593. Fl. Suec. ed. 2. 148. 

 Willd. Sp. PI. V. 2. 685. Lychnis montana vifcofa nodti- 

 fiora hirluta latifolia alba, floribus ablque appcndicibus ; 

 Till. Pif. 105?) — Panicle fimply raccmole, hairy. Flowers 

 oppofite, longer than their llalks, drooping every way, 

 without a crell. Stem Ample, leafy. Lower leaves lanceo- 

 late, even, nearly fmooth ; upper downy, vifcid ; dilated 

 and reflexed at the bafe. — Native of Scania and Finland, 

 where it was gathered by Linnncus ; and perhaps of Tuf- 

 cany ; as well as of our cliffs at Dover ; fee the lad fpecics 

 but one. The Finland fpccimen, in the Linnxan iicrbarium, 

 Vol. XXXn. 



is a foot high, with a rather flout, round, unbranched_^^m, 

 leafy throughout, molt downy and vifcid in the upper part. 

 Linn;eus fays the root is biennial. The three or four pair 

 of lower haves are two or three inches long, pointed, quite 

 even and entire at the margin, nearly fmooth, half or 

 three-quarters of an irch wide ; as many pair above them are 

 gradually fliorter, taper-pointed, even, icarcely wavy, both 

 their furfaces vifcid and denfely downy, their bafe greatly 

 dilated, ovate, or almofl heart-lhaped, clafping the ftcm. 

 The folitary fimple panicle, or rather clujler, about five 

 inches long, confilts ot eight er ten pair of oppofite folitary 

 Jloiuers, on fliort fimple^j/Zj, accompanied by fmall hcart- 

 fhaped hradeas, altogetlier very hairy, and apparently vifcid, 

 as Linnxus defcribes them. He fays \.\\e Jloivers are white, 

 fragrant at night, and do not turn to one fide, but droop in 

 all directions. Calyx hardly an inch long, cyhndrical, hairy, 

 pale, with ten green ribs. Petals in two rather deep, fome- 

 what rounded, fegments, without a crell. Capfule ovate, 

 on a ftiortifli ftalk. V/e do not undcrdand why Linnaeus 

 dcfcribes ihiijlalks as three-flowered. We have no means of 

 knowing whether this plant was cultivated by Miller io 

 '739' ^^' '^y ^'^ having fent S. paradoxa to Linnseus for 

 the Dover Catchfly, it is moll probable that neither our 

 vifcofa, nor Tournefort's fpecies next defcribed, was ever in 

 the Englifli gardens. 



5. buglojjifolia. Buglofs-leaved Catchfly. (Lychnis orien- 

 talis maxima, bugloffi folio undulato ; Tourn. Cor. 23. 

 Voy. V. 2. 148, with a figure.) — Panicle fimply racemofe, 

 hairy. Flowers oppofite, much longer than their llalks, 

 ereft, without a crell. Stem fimple, leafy. Leaves undu- 

 lated, hairy ; the upper ones lanceolate. — Gathered by 

 Tournefort at the foot of mount Ararat, flowering in the 

 middle of Augult. By his dofcription the root fliould fcem 

 perennial, as being divided at the crown into feveral parts. 

 Stems feveral, a yard high, Itraight, firm, hollow, leafy, 

 hairv and clammy, four lines in diameter. Lower Laves 

 about five inches long, and one broad, ovato-lanccolate, 

 acute, wavy and crifped at the edges, hairy, with a ftrong 

 mid-rib and many veins ; upper gradually fmallcr and nar- 

 rower ; the hraHcas linear-lanceolate, mollly equal in length 

 to the calyx, vvhich is cylindrical, an inch long. Petals 

 white, cut half way down, or more, into two rounded lobes, 

 and apparently deltitute of a creil ; but Tournefort leaves 

 that important circumllancc unnoticed, while he minutely 

 dcfcribes the green germen, and white Jlyles. His plant, 

 though referred by all authors to the preceding, is unquef- 

 tionably diiluift. We have compared fpecimens. 



S. amoena. Tartarian Catchfly. IJiin. Sp. I'l. 596, ex- 

 cluding all the fynonyms, except Hort. Dpi. 114. n. ii. 

 Willd. n. 12. Ait. n. 25. (S. procumbens ; Murray 

 Comm. Gotting. v. 7. 81. I. 2 ?) — Panicle turned one way ; 

 the branches fomewhat forked, hairy. Petals cloven h.-df 

 way down ; their crells converging. Stem decumbent, al- 

 ternately branched. Leaves lanceolate, nearly fmooth. — 

 Native of Tartary and Siberia. We doubt whether this 

 fpecies has ever been cultivated in England, the plant of 

 Mr. Blaekburne's catalogue, in 1779, liaving doubtlefs been 

 our 5. marilinia, then univerfally taken for amoena. The 

 latter is a fprcading, branching, leafy, pen-nnial fpecics, 

 with green leaves, an inch or two long, i>f which the upper 

 ones are minutely downy. The panicle is two or three inches 

 long, denfe, with leafy lanceolate iraSitis. Calyx pale green, 

 with ten purplifli ribs, obovatc, finely liairy, rather more 

 than half an inch long. Petals white. 



S.reslj. Splendid Catchfly. Sims in Curt. Mag. t. 1724. 

 — Panide ered, downy and vifcid. Petals lanceolate, undi- 

 vided, their crell of two acute lobes. Calyx angular, 

 4 U downy. 



